


Command Possession

by melblue



Series: Command [2]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Humor, M/M, Romance, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-13
Updated: 2011-07-13
Packaged: 2017-10-21 08:46:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 35,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/223269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melblue/pseuds/melblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The crew of Voyager find it impossible to mind their own business... again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: These characters are the property of Paramount-Viacom. I just borrowed them and am not writing for profit.
> 
> Author's Note: It took me a long time to write this story and I finally finished it in August 2006. Amazingly, it won some GOs in the Star Trek GO awards. (Best Paris/Other slash - 1st place; Best Chakotay/Other slash - 2nd place; Best VOY novel - 2nd place)

Ensign Harry Kim woke with a start, abruptly leapt out of bed, tripped over a blanket and fell flat on his face.

There he lay for a long while, wondering what had woken him so suddenly. He lifted his head, and peered suspiciously around the room. Nothing seemed unusual, so he slowly sat up and asked the computer for lights.

He blinked in the sudden onslaught of brightness and once more glanced around, still finding nothing strange in his quarters. Harry frowned in abstraction. Something had definitely woken him, something strangely familiar, and it wasn't a dream or a nightmare. Shaking his head in frustration, he rose to his feet. He was obviously sorely in need of some shore leave and he smiled to himself in delight as he remembered that the much-awaited stardate had arrived, and he was about to get some.

Voyager was still travelling through an empty, and he thought privately, very boring area of space. Indeed, the only entertainment the ship had enjoyed recently was the strange beginning of a relationship between Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Tuvok. Harry grinned to himself, as he remembered how the Commander hadn't been too thrilled at the amount of interest the crew had shown; but it had brought about a very positive outcome. In a move that Harry suspected was motivated by a need for privacy, Chakotay had convinced the Captain to allow the scheduling of the holodecks for shore leave while they were in this quiet area of space, and then had been one of the first to take the opportunity, inviting Tuvok to join him. Of course, that meant that other crewmembers were scheduled for holodeck shore leave as well, including the senior staff. It wasn't as good as the real thing but Harry wasn't complaining. His own innocent involvement in the relationship of Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Tuvok had been nerve wracking, and he definitely needed a break from the constant speculative gossip on the ship. Today, he and Tom would enter the holodeck to begin a four-day camping holiday, and they would only be contacted if there were an absolute emergency. And that wasn't likely to happen.

Harry asked for the time. It was still early, but he felt too excited and awake to go back to sleep. Dismissing whatever had woken him as part of that excitement, he went to his bathroom and turned on the sonic shower.

It was while he was in the shower that the Captain commed him.

"Yes, Captain?" Harry answered promptly, turning off the sonics.

"Ensign, I know that you are due to start shore leave today, but something has come up. I've already commed Lieutenant Paris, and I'd like you to join us in the conference room in ten minutes."

"Yes, Captain," Harry replied, struggling to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

The Captain made no effort to keep the amusement out of hers. "Don't worry, Ensign. I have a mission for you that may turn out better than your planned shore leave."

Harry smiled as she cut the com-line, and then went to find his uniform. As he left his quarters, he glanced regretfully at the backpack he'd packed the night before.

"Gentlemen," the Captain began, waving Harry and Tom into chairs and taking a seat herself. "During the gamma shift we came upon a class M planet and made contact."

"That's strange," Harry interjected. "Long range sensors showed no sign of any planets when I finished my shift."

"Yes, apparently it appeared on sensors just after you left, Ensign," explained the Captain. "The planet is called Klexis and the leader of their government initiated contact with us. I spoke to him, explained what we're doing here and he offered their help in anyway they could. It turns out that they have large sources of galacite and I was able to come to an agreement with them to make an exchange of some data-files for the galacite. Unfortunately, they seem to have some sort of strict prohibition on using transporters, so I need someone to take a shuttle down there and make the exchange."

"And that would be me, Captain?" Tom asked.

"Yes," agreed the Captain. "There's really no one else available. B'Elanna has a lot to do in engineering; Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Tuvok are still on shore leave in Holodeck 1. I'm... ah... reluctant to cut that short. The other thing is that this should be a pleasant trip. A real shore leave. Klexis appears to be a lovely planet and the people seem friendly. I'm prepared for you to spend the four days down there that was scheduled for your shore leave here."

Harry glanced at Tom and he could see his own excitement reflected in the other's blue eyes.

"When do we leave?" asked Tom, grinning at the Captain.

"Immediately," she replied. "A shuttle is waiting for you in shuttle bay two. There's just one more thing. Klexis has three large moons. One of them is inhabited, and we are asked to avoid this moon. You'll have to plot a detour around it."

"Why is that, Captain?" asked Harry.

"Apparently the people there hold some unusual beliefs and practice some social customs that the people on the main planet do not agree with. I don't know what those practices are, but relations between the people on the moon and the people on the planet seem quite cordial. However because of their differences, these people created their own colony on the moon, and the Klexian leader recommended that we keep away. I could see no reason to disagree. Are there any more questions?"

"No, Captain," replied Tom.

"Then dismissed," the Captain smiled, "and have a good time."

* * *

"Harry, I can't believe our luck," said Tom gleefully as he piloted their shuttle out of the shuttle bay and away from Voyager.

Klexis hung in the sky before them, a huge green-blue jewel in the blackness around her. They could see only one of her moons, gleaming with the same green glow as the main planet and a quarter of her size. This was the moon they had been told to avoid, and Harry watched Tom's fingers fly over the console as he plotted a course around it. Suddenly, Tom stiffened and shot a quick frown at Harry.

"Harry, I can't believe our luck," he repeated, but this time his voice was filled with frustration and sarcasm.

"What is it?" asked Harry quickly, checking his own panel.

"Navigation is off line," Tom answered grimly, and hit the com panel. "Cochrane to Voyager."

His answer was a burst of garbled static.

"Harry?"

"Communications are blocked somehow. I'm trying to bypass it. Give me a second."

"What the hell is going on?" Tom's voice was again filled with frustration and a lot of confusion. "I don't know how many seconds we have here, Harry. We're getting closer and closer to that moon."

"There..." Harry burst out. "Cochrane to Voyager."

This time there was complete silence.

"Cochrane to Voyager," Tom tried. Again there was silence. "Well, this trip is looking better and better."

The shuttle shuddered.

"Warp and impulse engines are now off line. We only have thrusters," announced Harry.

"See!," answered Tom. "I'll certainly have some questions for B'Elanna about how the hell this shuttle was cleared for service when we get back." He was still working frantically at the helm, his hands moving rapidly while his face remained calm. "We're caught in the gravitational pull of the moon. Better hang on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride."

"Tom, we were supposed to avoid that moon," said Harry.

"I know, but we don't have much choice. I'm sure the locals will understand." Tom grinned at him.

* * *

"Well, that wasn't too bumpy, was it?"

Harry laughed at Tom as they both struggled around the debris and out of the rear hatch.

"Not too bad actually," Harry agreed. "I think we may even be able to salvage some of the shuttle," he added generously.

"Ha! Ha!" Tom smirked at him, and then glanced around their surroundings curiously. "Not bad, if you like green."

Harry nodded in agreement. They were standing in a small clearing in what could have passed for a tropical jungle on Earth. The foliage was thick and lush, and so brightly verdant that Harry's eyes watered slightly. Even the trunks of the trees were green and, when Harry looked up, what he could see of the sky through the trees appeared to also be a soft shade of green. It was certainly very green, and it was also very...

"Hot," said Tom. "Pheww!"

Harry nodded again and they both stripped off their uniform jackets. Then Harry snapped open his tricorder and began to scan.

"Looks like we're about to meet those locals you mentioned. Six lifesigns heading our way. They appear to be all male."

"Ok," nodded Tom. "Let's hope this is peaceful. Don't draw your phaser unless I give you a sign, all right?"

Harry nodded at him and they both stood side-by-side, waiting.

They did not have to wait long. After a minute, six humanoids cautiously entered the clearing and stood before them. Harry thought they were the most human like species they had met in the Delta Quadrant so far. They were tall, about Tom's height, or even taller, and they were slender with aquiline features. Their skin was pale, so white as to be almost translucent. They all had the same hair color, a sort of deep purple and their eye color seemed to vary from brown to pale yellow. The whole effect, while unusual, was very striking.

Three of them were wearing loose robes of some sort of light, flowing material with a pearly, almost metallic sheen to it. The robes were short sleeved with a deep v-neck, and Harry thought enviously that they were definitely more appropriate for the climate than Starfleet uniforms. The other three males, were clothed in the same material, but only in loose pants, slung so low on their hips and so revealing, that Harry felt his face heat up even more in embarrassment, and he quickly looked away. His eyes met Tom's, and when he saw the sardonic amusement directed at him, his blush deepened. Resentment stirred, as always, at the ease with which Tom always seemed to know exactly when Harry was feeling awkward.

Finally one of the aliens spoke in a high, clear voice. "We are the Be'lal. Which one of you is the leader?"

Tom stepped forward. "I'm Lieutenant Tom Paris from the Federation vessel Voyager. We were on our way to the planet Klexis when we crashed on your moon. We deeply apologise for this intrusion and would be grateful for any assistance you could give us in reaching Klexis."

The alien who had spoken blinked. "Are you the leader?" he finally asked.

"Ah, I'm the ranking officer here, yes," answered Tom.

The alien suddenly broke into a radiant smile. "I am Gelvar, a leader of the Be'lal. You and your possessed are welcome here."

"Ah... my possessed?" Tom asked with a frown. "I'm not sure..."

"Is he not your possessed?" Gelvar asked, pointing at Harry.

Tom glanced at Harry in confusion. "He's with me, yes. This is Ensign Harry Kim."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Harry with a warm smile.

The reaction he received was not equally warm. Gelvar's face seemed to freeze in astonishment and then he stepped back, whispering to the other two aliens wearing robes. The other three aliens stared at Harry in shock, and Harry could feel their look echoed on his own face. He glanced at Tom, but Tom merely shrugged his shoulders, the puzzlement obvious in his eyes. Eventually, the Be'lals conversation finished and Gelvar glanced coldly at Harry before stepping closer to Tom.

"You allow him to speak in public?" he asked Tom incredulously.

"What?" gasped Harry before he could stop himself, and Tom shot him a quick warning look. The leader, Gelvar was frowning at Harry, but Tom swiftly moved between them speaking quickly.

"I apologise for the offence. I was not entirely sure of your customs here. I appreciate the welcome and I hope we will not intrude on your generosity for too long. Our communication systems are malfunctioning and I wonder if you would be able to help us contact the planet, or our ship?"

Gelvar looked at Tom for a long moment, and then he finally broke into a smile. "Come. You will visit with us."

He turned and swiftly walked away, the other Be'lal falling into step behind him. Harry was still feeling slightly dumbstruck but Tom reached over, grabbed Harry's arm, pulling him along as they quickly followed the procession through the trees.

"Tom," Harry hissed, finally shaking off his surprise. "What the hell is going on, and what do you think you're doing?"

"Look," Tom whispered back. "These guys can probably help us contact Voyager, so let's not rub them up the wrong way, ok? For some reason they don't seem to want you to talk, so just keep your mouth shut."

"Tom, I have a bad feeling about this..." whispered Harry, pulling his arm out of Tom's grip.

"Harry, you know the rules of first contact, not to mention common sense. Try to honor their customs, particularly when paying an unannounced and unasked for visit. It's only for a little while."

Harry sighed, "Fine."

"Thanks, Harry." Tom buzzed in his ear. "You know, my track record isn't that great on away missions, and I'd kinda like to improve it."

Harry's heart sank.


	2. Chapter 2

The town they eventually reached had to be one of the most beautiful that Harry had ever seen, and he couldn't help feeling admiring amazement as he and Tom followed their hosts through it's wide avenues. Gleaming, white towers and spires arched gracefully above the treetops, like pearls set amongst emeralds. There were no roads, simply avenues of lush grass winding around each tower, and, strangely, the passage of feet seemed to have no impact on that grass. It was an astounding mixture of nature and civilisation.

Eventually, they reached one of the tallest towers. It soared upwards, and Harry arched his neck to follow its height, wondering at its shining magnificence, and noticed Tom do the same. After a while, his watering eyes became accustomed to the overwhelming, brilliant white and he could make out the windows set in the sides, and balconies winding around the tower at different levels.

A few, wide steps were before them, leading to a large archway into the tower. Harry saw, with surprise, that there was no door. Then he noticed that the aliens had stopped and were turning to face them again.

Gelvar stepped forward and bowed slightly. "We are honoured by your presence, and wish to offer you our hospitality. Will you accept our Veptek?"

Harry saw Tom's body stiffen warily and he knew that he also was wondering why the word 'Veptek' hadn't been translated by their combadges. Tom glanced at him for a moment, and Harry, remembering not to speak, gave a barely noticeable shrug.

"Um... Leader Gelvar... could you explain what 'Veptek' is?" Tom asked cautiously.

Gelvar blinked in surprise. "It is the hospitality of the Be'lal."

Gelvar was staring at Tom expectantly and Harry could see the wheels turning in Tom's mind. Finally Tom stepped forward and returned Gelvar's half bow. " We would be honoured, Leader Gelvar."

Harry fervently hoped that Tom had made the right decision.

Gelvar broke into a wide, beaming smile and then turned and entered the tower. Tom and Harry followed him in and looked around curiously.

Expecting sterile white, they were overwhelmed by a riot of colors. True, the walls, what they could see of them, did appear to be white, but draperies of different colors covered them. The material was like fine gauze, and as it fluttered in the breeze from the many windows, it almost seemed transparent. There was very little furniture, simply a few low tables of polished dark wood, and some bright cushions scattered around the floor. The whole effect, after the glare and heat outside was cool and refreshing.

There were more Be'lal seated on those cushions, and all of them looked up and fell silent, staring impassively at Harry and Tom as they entered the room.

Then Gelvar stepped forward and spoke. "This is Leader Tom, and his Possessed. They join us for Veptek."

Immediately, the Be'lal broke into those wide, beaming grins that tended to make Harry feel a little nervous, and then they bustled around the room, talking in quiet voices. Harry watched them, and finally realized something rather strange. He gave Tom's sleeve a slight tug.

"What's up?" Tom whispered.

"Haven't you noticed?" Harry returned the whisper, his lips barely moving.

"You mean the lack of women?" Tom smirked slightly.

'Should've known he'd notice,' thought Harry, and rolled his eyes in resignation. "What do you think it means?" he whispered in Tom's ear.

"That there's less potential to choose from?" Tom was still smirking, and Harry really wanted to slap that smirk off his face. Instead he rolled his eyes again.

"I guess we'll find out eventually," Tom whispered and then turned away swiftly as Gelvar approached him bearing a glass goblet, filled with a deep red liquid.

"Leader Tom," Gelvar bowed and offered Tom the goblet.

"Thank you, Leader Gelvar," Tom took the goblet and peered at the liquid.

"It is juice from the Veptek tree," Gelvar explained with a smile. "Very refreshing and healthy." He raised his own goblet and drank, and then handed it to the Be'lal beside him, who also drank.

Tom raised the goblet to his lips and sipped carefully and Harry saw his eyes widen in amazement. Then he took a deeper sip and turned to Harry, offering him the goblet, and Harry wondered how on earth Tom had figured out what to do so quickly. As Harry took the goblet from Tom's hand, Tom winked at him reassuringly. Tentatively, Harry took a sip, and cool liquid ran down his throat. It was amazing, he'd never tasted anything like it, sweet but not too syrupy, tangy but not too tart, and he could feel it cooling down his whole body, which was still uncomfortably hot in his uniform. He felt like he'd just had the most refreshingly cool swim of his life.

"Now, we must provide you with some more comfortable clothing," Gelvar said with a smile.

"That would be very generous of you," answered Tom, quickly. "However, I wonder if first, if it's not too much trouble, we could use a communicator. Ours were damaged in the accident, and we really need to inform our ship of where we are. We were supposed to be going to Klexis, and they'll be wondering what's happened to us. Hopefully, someone can collect us and we won't intrude on you any more than we already have."

Tom's speech was met with a long, tense silence, and Harry's heart sank.

Finally, Gelvar spoke, "Of course, we must make allowances, you are, after all, strangers. However, the communication device that we use will only allow you to contact our liaison on Klexis. They will have to inform your ship that you have accepted Veptek."

"Uh... okay, sure," Tom replied.

"If you will follow me, I will take you to the communication room."

Gelvar strode across to the far side of the room, the Be'lal who had stood beside him walking slightly behind. Tom directed a warning glance at Harry, but Harry had already figured out what to do. As Tom quickly followed Gelvar, Harry took his place behind him.

They entered what appeared to be an elevator of some kind, and Harry was surprised when instead of going up, it went down. Gelvar seemed to sense their surprise because he turned to Tom and began to explain. "Much of our city is actually underground. The towers above are for rest and leisure. We farm above ground also, obviously, but our technology is underground. There it is protected, and our city remains beautiful."

"Good idea," replied Tom, and then the lift halted and the doors opened. They emerged into a rocky corridor. The floor was worn smooth, but the sides still bore the evidence of machine tunnelling. A short way up the corridor, Gelvar pressed his palm to a panel, and a door set into the rock face slid open, revealing a small room, with a round console standing in the centre. Gelvar pressed a few buttons on the console, and then turned to Tom.

"The line is open. You will want privacy, we will wait outside." He and the other Be'lal left the room, the door sliding shut behind them.

Harry strode swiftly to the console. The markings were strange but the layout seemed to be very basic, and he easily deciphered the readings.

He felt Tom move behind him. "Well?"

"There's a line open to the planet," Harry replied. "All the other lines are security coded. Given time, I could probably break the lockout." He looked enquiringly at Tom.

After a moment of thought Tom shook his head. "Good to know, but let's find out what Klexis can tell us about these people. They seem friendly enough so far."

"Hmmphh," snorted Harry. "Yeah, handing around this Veptek juice of theirs. Very ceremonial. And how did you know what to do with that stuff anyway?"

Tom shrugged. "Seemed obvious. Gelvar gave it to his pal to drink, so I figured…well, didn't you notice that that other Be'lal was always near Gelvar? Must be his 'Possessed' I guess."

Harry had been wondering why it always surprised him so much when Tom turned out to be more observant than he seemed, when he knew how much Tom liked to appear nonchalant, but Tom's final word's ignited a spark of resentful anger.

"Yeah," he almost snarled. "And I guess I'm your 'Possessed', whatever that is."

Tom's eyebrow lifted in slight surprise and his lips curled into a smirk. "I would think the title would make that obvious."

Harry gasped, but before he could say anything, Tom spoke again. "Look, we're wasting time here, Harry. Just calm down and activate the com line."

Harry glared at him for a moment and then reached over and pressed a button. The view screen set in the panel flickered, and then an image appeared. It was a man and he looked similar to the Be'lal, except his hair was black instead of deep purple.

Immediately the man frowned. "I am Councillor Amtek. Who are you?"

"I'm Lieutenant Tom Paris from the USS Voyager. Captain Janeway sent us on a mission to collect galacite from your planet, but we've crashed here. Can you get a message to Voyager?"

The man had stopped frowning, but when Harry heard the groan the man made, it didn't reassure him.

"You crashed there. Wonderful," he said finally. "I will give your message to Voyager, Lieutenant."

"Uh... fine," said Tom. "So, would someone be able to get us from here. Our shuttle is severely damaged."

There was a moment of silence, in which Harry's heart rate rose. Then the man finally spoke. "Did you accept Veptek?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Tom. "It seemed the right thing to do. It was very refreshing."

The Councillor looked supremely shocked. "It was?"

"Well, yes," replied Tom, puzzled. "I'd never tasted anything like it."

"Oh, the juice," Councillor Amtek's brow cleared. "But the Veptek is more than just the juice. It's a highly ceremonious form of hospitality, in which the guest honours the host. If you have accepted Veptek from the Be'lal, than you have no choice, you must stay until the ceremony is complete."

"But Voyager..." Tom got no further, he was halted by Amtek's raised hand.

"I will inform Captain Janeway of what has happened, and we will make other arrangements for the galacite."

"Fine," sighed Tom. "But how long does this ceremony last? And what do we have to do?"

"Traditionally, it lasts for three days," Amtek answered. "As to what you have to do, not much really. You simply enjoy yourselves and honour the customs of your hosts. That's where things might become difficult."

"Difficult?" asked Tom, and Harry could hear the anxiety creeping into his voice.

"The Be'lal have an unusual social system. You may have noticed the lack of women?" As Tom and Harry both nodded he continued. "They do not procreate with females. They procreate genetically, similar to cloning, and they only create males. The Be'lal live as pairs, Leaders and their Possessed. The Leaders lead the society, and the Possessed are basically what their name implies. They are a possession, to serve their Leaders, and are passed around like currency. It's a form of slavery that we on Klexis can barely tolerate, and so the Be'lal created a colony on the moon, and they stay there."

As Councillor Amtek had spoken Harry had felt the panic slowly welling up inside him. He didn't know whether he was allowed to speak to the councillor or not, but he no longer cared. "I really think we should just leave," he said quickly. "Can you send a ship for us?"

Amtek shook his head. "It would really be better for everyone if you stayed. The Be'lal would be highly offended and angered if you did not complete the Veptek. They choose to separate themselves from us, but they are still part of us. We are symbiotic; Klexis and the Be'lal need harmony to exist together. At the moment we have harmony, and we are reluctant to risk that balance."

"Symbiotic?" Tom asked as Harry shook his head in frustration. "In what way are you symbiotic?"

"Genetically," Amtek replied. "We on Klexis procreate in the same way as your species, however there is an imbalance in our DNA codes which regularly needs modification. Ironically, it is the Be'lal who have the genetic patterns we require. Klexis and the Be'lal regularly trade DNA. The benefit for the Be'lal is that they can continue to restrict their society to the creation of the male gender. So, you see, we each cannot exist without the other."

"All right," Tom told Amtek. "Please inform our Captain that we are taking our shore leave with the Be'lal."

Amtek actually smiled at them. "Thank you. I will do so. One more thing, remember that you must honour their customs. If you do not, you break the spirit of the Veptek. It would be almost as bad as leaving." He broke the connection, and the screen went black.

"Tom, are you crazy?" Harry burst out. "There is no way we can stay here, just no way!"

Tom looked at him calmly. "Why not?" He grinned. "It might even be fun."

"Fun?" Harry repeated incredulously. "You _are_ crazy. You heard how Amtek described this culture, didn't you?"

"Sure." Tom was still grinning, and it had the effect of making Harry want to kill him.

"Oh I see," he hissed, his face flaming with fury. "Of course, it probably will be fun for _you_. After all, _you're_ the leader! _I'm_ the one playing the part of the 'Possessed'."

Tom's grin was gone and he looked slightly surprised. "Harry, calm down," he said. "Look, think about it, there's no way we can leave now. There's no danger to our lives, and you know that Starfleet doesn't like to risk destroying a diplomatic relationship between two symbiotic species, particularly when one of them is helping us. I think that the Captain would probably even order us to stay. We're just gonna have to make the best of it."

Harry struggled to contain the anger he was still feeling. He hated it, absolutely hated it when Tom was right. Finally he sighed in resignation.

"Fine," he said. He risked an anxious look into Tom's eyes. "But, Tom, I don't know if I can… do this."

Tom patted Harry's cheek and gave the reassuring smile that always made Harry feel really nervous. "Don't worry, Harry. I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you. Trust me."

Harry sighed again. "Tom, I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

On the Be'lal moon, the day was nearing its end, and Harry Kim was extremely thankful. While it had been morning when they left Voyager, it had been late afternoon for the Be'lal when he and Tom had gatecrashed their moon. A couple of hours earlier, Gelvar had shown them to the large, comfortable room they were now in, presented them with some clothes and then announced that a chime would tell them when to come down for the last feast of the day. Harry wasn't looking forward to that feast. Sure he was starving, he'd skipped breakfast, and his stomach was making ominous rumbling noises, but the thought of appearing in public in the outfit he was currently wearing, frankly terrified him.

As soon as he'd changed he'd fled the room to pace the small vertigo-inducing balcony that hung from the side of the tower. Their room also terrified him. It was dominated by a very large bed. In fact, the bed was the only piece of furniture in the room. No other beds, no chairs, only the bed and a few wall mirrors, lots of gauzy hangings, and three doors. One leading to the passage, one to a luxurious bathroom, and one to the balcony where Harry had spent the last two hours.

Through the filmy curtains Harry could see Tom. Tom was now wearing one of the loose, flowing robes of the leaders, and he was sprawled on the bed, totally relaxed, quietly watching Harry. Harry wished he wouldn't. He was wearing the pants of the 'Possessed' but he felt… naked. The material was light and flimsy, and the pants were so low slung they barely covered his groin. Harry hated them.

Even though the sun could no longer be seen through the dense green foliage of the jungle, it was still very hot, and Harry had a feeling that the temperature would not go down much further. So, at least he wouldn't freeze to death in his nakedness, he thought wryly.

"Harry," Tom's voice floated out to him. "Get your butt back in here, you've done enough sulking. It's almost time for that feast Gelvar promised."

Anger flared in Harry again, and for a brief moment he wondered why he was so emotional about the situation. After all, it wasn't Tom's fault. 'True,' he thought, 'but at the same time, I just _know_ that Tom's enjoying every moment of this.'

"Harry?" Tom called again.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Harry yelled.

He swept into the room and glared at Tom and just as he'd expected, Tom was smirking. He saw Tom's eyes sweep over his body, and the smirk faded.

Harry felt a blush begin to burn his cheeks. "What?" he asked nervously.

Tom shook his head slowly. "Nothing. It's just… I might have a harder time keeping you out of trouble than I thought."

Harry knew he was really blushing now, and for the life of him he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Yeah," Tom was still staring at him, making Harry even more embarrassed and uncomfortable. He shifted his feet and finally Tom looked away.

"Yeah," said Tom again. "Well… look, I wanted to tell you, when we go down, just keep your eye on the other 'Possesseds' and try to copy what they do. I'm sure the Be'lal will make allowances if you're a bit different. Just don't talk and they'll be happy."

Harry sat down on the bed beside Tom and decided to have one last try. "Tom, do you really think we should be doing this? Surely, we could make the Be'lal understand and let us go."

"Harry," Harry looked up and met Tom's eyes, surprised at the sincerity he saw shining in them. "You heard Councillor Amtek. You know this is the best way. I told you I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you and I won't. I promise."

Harry knew that there were some promises that couldn't always be kept, and quite likely this would be one of them, but for some reason he felt reassured. He smiled at Tom, just as a delicate chime rang from somewhere in the room. He glanced around, wondering where it had come from.

They both stood up and looked at each other.

"It's time," said Tom.

"I have a bad feeling about this," said Harry in a low voice.

"I wish you'd stop saying that," Tom replied.


	3. Chapter 3

Cool, calm logic surrounded Tuvok's mind, in direct contrast to the dry heat that surrounded his body, reflecting the continual paradox that was a Vulcan's life. This was the first level of meditation for a Vulcan, both the beginning and the end, as well as the balance for which they strived. As he opened his eyes, and saw again the view before him, Tuvok marvelled, not for the first time, that he was able to achieve such a successful meditative state on, of all places, Risa.

Of course, it was not really Risa, it was merely a holographic projection of the place, but it was still an amazing fact that he and Commander Chakotay had chosen to holiday in a place that they both held in contempt. Two days of arguing about the best holiday program to use had forced them to it, and deleting all the holographic characters in the program had lifted the place from barely tolerable to actually enjoyable.

This was their final day. Tomorrow morning they would leave the holodeck and return to the ship and the level of privacy they had been enjoying would drop alarmingly.

Neither of them was looking forward to it.

Tuvok dropped his gaze from the endless blue sea before him, to the bronze figure sprawled on the sand beside him. Of course, they still had a day and a night to make the most of.

The figure beside him stretched luxuriously and Tuvok found himself hypnotised by the play of muscles in Chakotay's tight abdomen. His eyes followed Chakotay's hand as it brushed over those muscles and continued up over his chest. A soft snort reached his ears, and he glanced at Chakotay's face to find his brown eyes open and twinkling mischievously.

"It was a good idea," Chakotay said to him.

Tuvok raised an eyebrow at this cryptic statement.

"The sand," Chakotay continued with a smirk. "I like this non-stick stuff."

"Ah," replied Tuvok. "I didn't realize you'd noticed."

Chakotay rolled onto his side and reached over to grip Tuvok's arm, tugging him down onto the sand. "Oh, I definitely noticed. Good thinking. Nothing worse than sand in your..."

Tuvok didn't let him finish, but leaned over and took his mate's lips in a punishing kiss. Chakotay, judging by his eager response, didn't seem to mind being interrupted. When Tuvok drew back, Chakotay blinked at him dazedly for a moment, and then sighed.

"...hair," he finished, with another smirk. Then he sighed again. "Last day."

"Yes," Tuvok agreed, a wealth of meaning expressed in the one word.

"With luck, they've forgotten about us, by now," said Chakotay hopefully, but then he frowned. "However, I still have to decide what to do about them. I really should report the whole incident to the Captain, they did almost kill us, you know."

"I do indeed," Tuvok's voice was almost as dry as the air around them, and Chakotay gave a soft snort of laughter, which was followed by a serious look.

"What do you think?"

"I think that you should consider a course of action tomorrow, when you are back on duty," Tuvok advised, running one hand down Chakotay's side in a slow caress.

Chakotay closed his eyes for a brief moment. "That sounds logical."

Tuvok continued his slow caress and watched as his mate closed his eyes once more. He looked supremely relaxed, but as Tuvok gazed at his face, he saw a slight frown appear between Chakotay's eyes. It was not the first time he had seen this in the last couple of days and it was always accompanied by a slight sense of discomfort emanating from his mate.

"What is it?" Tuvok asked softly, and Chakotay's eyes flew open.

"What's what?"

Tuvok could now sense nervous evasion in Chakotay, and he raised one eyebrow in surprise. His surprise was not just at Chakotay's reaction, but also at the ease with which he had discerned it. Their bond was already much stronger than Tuvok had ever expected, and the implications of that concerned him. Particularly as Chakotay was not yet aware of it.

"There is something bothering you," he finally stated, firmly.

Chakotay's response was a very obviously feigned look of surprise. Tuvok returned his gaze steadily.

"Well..." Chakotay stammered reluctantly. "Maybe I have been thinking... about... well thinking, you know..."

"I know?" Tuvok questioned. "No, I don't, that's why I'm asking you."

Chakotay frowned at him. "Don't be so clever," he snapped. "Okay, I've just been thinking about something Neelix said."

"Ah, this would be his observations regarding your temperament?"

"No," Chakotay snapped again. "This would be his observations regarding Vulcan's attitudes towards their mates."

Tuvok eyed his mate carefully and took a moment to think carefully about his response. Chakotay was already losing his temper, and Tuvok had no wish to aggravate him further, now that he had finally admitted what was bothering him.

"Ah," he finally replied. When Chakotay looked at him like he'd lost his mind, he quickly added a question. "Which observations were those exactly?"

Chakotay lowered his eyes. "The ones about Vulcan's being possessive about their mates." His eyes met Tuvok's again and the confusion and worry in them was obvious. "Is that true?"

"Yes," Tuvok answered simply. "When we form a bond, particularly one with a mate, we... " he searched for an appropriate word, "...protect... it. Does it bother you?"

Chakotay didn't answer immediately and Tuvok watched him carefully. Again he'd lowered his eyes and he was chewing his bottom lip. Tuvok had already learnt that this meant he was thinking furiously. As well as this, Tuvok could sense a strange mixture of excitement and fear flooding Chakotay and without thought he responded to it. He reached out and gripped Chakotay's arm tightly.

"Does it bother you?" he asked again.

Chakotay jumped at the contact and the terrified excitement that Tuvok had sensed flared wildly, followed by embarrassment, which was reflected in Chakotay's burning face.

"I don't know," Chakotay said breathlessly, and he yanked his arm out of Tuvok's grasp.

The bond was now almost singing with Chakotay's emotions and Tuvok found himself faced with a moral dilemma. He'd realised a while ago, what Chakotay wanted from him, but it was obvious that his mate was struggling with those needs, not only not yet ready to acknowledge them, but also afraid and ashamed. Tuvok found this strange, if this was part of Chakotay's personality, why did he not just accept it and enjoy it? Particularly when Tuvok was more than willing to... help. However, the problem was that he hadn't yet told Chakotay how strong their bond was. Should he take advantage of what the bond was telling him to do?

Chakotay shifted uncomfortably beside him, and he could see the decision to flee dawning on his mate's face, and made an instant decision himself. The bond existed and it was only logical to use it. He reached out and once more gripping Chakotay's arm, dragged him back down onto the sand. When he saw the desire in Chakotay's dilating pupils, he knew he'd made the right decision.

"It doesn't matter," he said calmly. "That's the way it is. You'll just have to get used to it."

Chakotay stared at him for a moment in shock, and then pushed him away angrily, but Tuvok could see the excitement shining in his eyes and used his superior strength to pin Chakotay onto the sand. Then he straddled his mate's waist and watched calmly as Chakotay continued to struggle ineffectually.

He leaned forward and Chakotay's dark eyes watched him warily.

"Enough," he whispered into Chakotay's ear and then took the lobe between his teeth, nibbling it gently. He felt his mate shudder, and bit down even more firmly. A breathless moan rewarded him, and he instantly sat up and stared down at his captive.

Chakotay had closed his eyes, but after a moment they opened and he returned Tuvok's calm stare with one of confusion. Tuvok lifted himself up slightly, giving Chakotay room to move.

"Turn over," he said, and waited.

Chakotay's eyes widened, his face flushed, and once again the bond resonated with a wild blend of emotion. Anger, fear and hot desire bombarded Tuvok and he found himself struggling to remain calm and wait. The decision had to be his mate's.

It was only when Chakotay slowly rolled over that Tuvok realized the decision had been made; the bond gave him no clue. Instead the emotions assaulting him grew even more wild and uncontrolled, and he could hear Chakotay struggling so much for breath that he was almost hyperventilating.

Tuvok frowned, and brushed a hand reassuringly across Chakotay's back. His mate stiffened, then relaxed, and his breathing calmed slightly. Looking around, Tuvok spotted the sun oil bottle lying on the sand and reached over for it. Then he moved back off Chakotay's legs.

"Kneel up," he ordered, and this time there was no hesitation. Chakotay rose instantly to kneel on his hands and knees.

Chakotay tensed slightly when the first splash of oil hit his buttocks, but Tuvok smoothed and massaged his lower back and by the time he reached the cleft of his buttocks, Chakotay was pushing back against his hand.

Tuvok pushed one finger inside his mate and watched the muscles ripple across Chakotay's back. Chakotay's body was one of the most perfect he'd ever seen, Tuvok reflected. Bronzed skin, stretched over straining muscles and Tuvok couldn't resist... he had to taste. Leaning over he licked and nibbled Chakotay's buttock, and oil and salt exploded across his tongue. The bond was now thrumming with Chakotay's desire and excitement, with an added tinge of impatience.

Tuvok removed his fingers, quickly oiled himself and knelt behind Chakotay, holding his straining erection in place. With his other hand he gripped Chakotay's hip, holding him still, and after a long moment, he felt his mate's frustration growing. Chakotay pushed against his hand, but could not move.

"Do it," Chakotay hissed, trying to look back over his shoulder.

Tuvok tightened his grip and knew that there would be bruises to show for it later. "When I'm ready," he answered calmly.

Chakotay gasped and tried to move back again.

"Perhaps I'll change my mind," Tuvok continued. "You can stay here, like this, waiting for me."

Chakotay tensed under his hand, and Tuvok could see the flush rising all over his body. His breathing was rough, and Tuvok didn't need the bond to tell that he was furiously angry.

"You wish," he spat out, but when he tried to move again, it was backwards, not forwards.

Tuvok leaned forward slightly, pressing closer against Chakotay and his mate shuddered.

"There will come a day," he said softly, "when you'll do it, and more."

With one forceful push of his hips, he entered Chakotay in a long, slow stroke. He heard Chakotay suck in a hissing breath.

"Don't... don't be so... sure of that," his mate ground out between gasping breaths.

It was a struggle not to drown in Chakotay's excitement assaulting him through the bond, and his struggle was made all the more difficult by his own desire to move forcefully into the delicious heat and friction that surrounded his cock. But he wanted to see how far Chakotay would go with the game.

Quickly, Tuvok pushed Chakotay's thighs further apart and then pulled him back so that he was sitting on Tuvok's lap. They both gasped and stilled for a moment as Tuvok's cock pushed even deeper into Chakotay. Then Tuvok wound his arms around Chakotay's waist and grabbed both his wrists, holding him firmly in place. Chakotay struggled as he realized, too late, that he could not move.

"Let go."

Tuvok buried his face in Chakotay's neck and began to lick and nibble his throat. His hips moved in small circles, always pushing his cock deeper.

"Let me go," his mate's voice was now a breathless whisper.

"No," Tuvok finally replied. He began to thrust strongly and Chakotay trembled in his arms. "You are my mate. Mine."

"Oh Gods," Chakotay breathed and his head lolled back onto Tuvok's shoulder. Tuvok instantly took advantage of this increased access to Chakotay's throat, biting his way up to Chakotay's jaw.

"I need... don't... Tuvok don't..."

Tuvok immediately sensed the panic filtering through to the bond, and he slowed his thrusts.

"I won't hurt you," he whispered into Chakotay's ear. Then he released one of Chakotay's hands. "Touch yourself... show me."

The fear receded and Chakotay reached down and took his own erection into his hand, pumping its length slowly. Tuvok couldn't take his eyes from the sight and matched his own thrusts to Chakotay's strokes. He knew he was losing himself in the moment, but he'd never thought it would be like this. Calmly, almost serenely, he was sinking into the bond, mesmerised by the emotions coming from his mate. He could feel Chakotay reaching the same point and instinctively reached for him, strengthening the bond even further. Pleasure blanketed his body, and ecstasy sang through his veins, fuelled by Chakotay's own pleasure and desire moving through the bond. The thought crossed his mind that this had to be the reason so many Vulcan's bonded with humans, to be surrounded by emotion, but able to maintain their own control. It was... intoxicating... addictive.

Then he could contain it no longer, and he erupted into orgasm, pushing up into Chakotay and biting down on his shoulder, but still never taking his eyes from Chakotay's moving hand.

"Uh... fuck!" His mate ground out, and Tuvok watched the white fluid spurting from Chakotay's cock as his mate's head rolled from side to side in obvious ecstasy.

After a moment, they slowly slumped forward onto the ground.

"That was... that was... intense," Chakotay panted.

"Indeed," was all Tuvok could say, and Chakotay snorted softly, dislodging Tuvok's exhausted cock.

Tuvok rolled over onto his back and flung out his arms. The whole experience had been rather... overwhelming. He glanced over at Chakotay, who was lying on his side facing away from Tuvok. If Tuvok had been overwhelmed, than it was only logical that Chakotay was feeling even more so. Tentatively he opened his mind to the bond.

Lingering excitement and fear. Growing embarrassment... and then absolute confusion.

After a tense moment of silence, Chakotay finally turned and gave Tuvok a wary look.

"I have a feeling," he said slowly, "that perhaps it was more intense then either of us expected."

Tuvok raised one eyebrow in what he could only describe to himself as surprise. Was it possible that Chakotay was sensing the bond?

"What do you mean?" he asked carefully.

The flush of passion had been fading from Chakotay's face but now it reddened again with what Tuvok instinctively knew was a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"This is the second time that we've made love and you've somehow known…" Chakotay's face was now a fiery red, and his eyes were focused somewhere in the distance over Tuvok's right shoulder. After taking a deep breath he continued in almost a whisper, "…you've known what I wanted."

Tuvok now found himself experiencing one of the rare occasions when he had no idea what to say. The bond was strong but it seemed impossible that Chakotay could have sensed anything through it; he did not come from a telepathic race. On the other hand, he came from a culture that had practised spiritual awareness for many centuries. Perhaps it was possible after all. The silence lengthened as Tuvok wondered what affect that could have on the bond. He needed more time to think about it.

He glanced at Chakotay and found that he was being watched expectantly with narrowed, irritated eyes. Tuvok instantly decided on provocative evasion.

"I have always found it interesting that Humans assume Vulcans are not very experienced sexually. In fact, Vulcans are usually experienced in many different forms of pleasure, encompassing techniques from many different cultures. In our case, I have over 80 years of sexual history compared to you. It is only logical that I would utilise my previous experience."

There was another long moment of silence. During this silence the flush faded from Chakotay's face until he was almost white. Tuvok began to doubt that he had made the wisest choice of reply.

"I see." Chakotay finally replied flatly. "I imagine that I'm supposed to feel flattered that you've deigned to give this boring, almost virginal, simpleton the benefit of your vast experience, but unfortunately for you I'm not as stupid as you seem to think. I don't know how it happened, but I felt you, and not just physically. You weren't just drawing on experience; you knew what to do because you could sense what I… needed. Well, here's some news for you, it works both ways… you needed something from me and I gave it to you. Now, I'm going back to the hotel, where I'm going to reinstall some holocharacters that I can be extremely rude to. Hopefully, when I've done with that, you'll have come to your senses and decided, in your infinite wisdom, to tell me exactly what's going on!"

Chakotay rose swiftly to his feet, gave Tuvok one last look of withering contempt, and then sauntered off up the beach.

Definitely not the wisest choice, Tuvok reflected.


	4. Chapter 4

Tom Paris was feeling his usual confident self. So far, things had gone very smoothly. Harry, a master of observation, had studied the other Possesseds and then proceeded to behave so similarly that Tom thought their hosts would never realize that Harry hadn't been a Possessed all his life. Only Tom could tell that Harry was still simmering with resentment and humiliation.

The Leaders had sprawled on the comfortable cushions and their Possesseds had knelt beside them and served them a meal that was one of the most delicious Tom had ever experienced. Delicate flavourings and subtle spices enhanced every mouthful and as the Leaders seemed to be responsible for the amount their Possessed could eat, Tom made damn sure that Harry shared every dish.

Now the feast appeared to be drawing to a close, the platters of food were removed, and when Harry returned to kneel beside him, he was holding a goblet brimming with Veptek juice. He offered it to Tom with a slight smirk, and Tom sighed slightly with relief that Harry had finally recovered from his ill humour. He took a sip and experienced again that instant, cool, refreshing buzz. Suddenly he felt amazingly alive and he handed the goblet to Harry with a beaming smile. Harry blinked at him in surprise.

Throughout the meal there had been much talking, and Tom had fascinated Gelvar and the other Leaders with tales of Voyager's travels in the Delta Quadrant, but now, as they drank the Veptek juice, the room fell silent. When Tom glanced around the room, he realized why, and the anxiety that had receded during the meal, quickly returned.

All of the Leaders were now completely focussed on their Possesseds, drawing them closer, caressing them slowly, in some cases kissing them hungrily. Only one Leader was not distracted, and Tom swallowed nervously as he realized that Gelvar was now watching Harry with an expression that could only be described as lustful. Finally Gelvar finished his examination of Harry and met Tom's eyes.

"Leader Tom, I have never seen a Possessed like yours, he is extraordinary. Would you consider a trade," he indicated the pretty, young man kneeling beside him, "if even for one night?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Tom saw Harry's body jerk, almost as if he'd been struck, and he swiftly reached out and grasped his arm, holding him in place. For one furious moment, he'd almost gone for Gelvar himself, but now he took a couple of deep breaths and willed himself to reply politely.

"You will forgive me, Leader Gelvar, but he is extremely valuable to me," he said shortly.

"Oh," Gelvar looked puzzled. "I had thought he did not please you. Are you punishing him, that you starve him of your affection?"

At this point, Tom realized his mistake. While Harry had performed the role of a Possessed so successfully, Tom's performance as a Leader had been a complete failure. All through the meal he had noticed that the other Leaders constantly petted and caressed their partners but he'd never laid a finger on Harry. His concern for Harry's feelings had placed them both in danger and there was no excuse for that on a Starfleet Mission. He'd have to salvage the situation quickly.

"Yes," he replied. "He spoke in public when he should not have."

"Ah," Gelvar nodded. "You honour us, but you are a strict master. Soon is the time of the Veptek, when all should be forgiven."

Tom gave his most brilliant smile. "Of course, Leader Gelvar. Thank you for reminding me."

Gelvar nodded and returned Tom's smile, and then was instantly distracted by his Possessed. Tom blinked in surprise, and then risked looking at his own Possessed.

Harry was still furious, Tom could see that straight away, but even further down in his eyes, Tom saw something he'd never seen in Harry before. Complete panic. Seeking to reassure, Tom sat up and gently pulled Harry closer into a loose hug.

Harry was like a block of wood in his arms and Tom felt slightly annoyed. It wasn't like he was hideous or anything, and this would be a whole lot easier if Harry co-operated. He put a firm hand under Harry's chin and tilted his face up. Harry's eyes met his briefly and then skittered away.

"Tom," it was not even a whisper, merely a breath, but Tom heard it perfectly. "Don't you dare."

Again Tom was annoyed; he'd already failed once tonight. He wasn't going to again, whether Harry liked it or not.

"Would you prefer Gelvar?" he asked softly and, he had to admit, rather snidely.

He felt rather than heard Harry's sharp intake of breath, and when Harry's dark eyes met his again, he could clearly see the mixture of anger and terror in them. Tom just managed to hold back his gasp of surprise, but that look shook him badly. What on earth could Harry be so afraid of? They were best friends after all; surely Harry couldn't be afraid of him? Instantly feeling the need to reassure and protect, Tom brushed his hands lightly down Harry's smooth back.

"It's alright," he whispered. "I won't hurt you. Trust me?"

For a long moment Harry just stared at him, still with that stricken expression, but then he gave a minute nod, and closed his eyes. Tom couldn't help smiling slightly, Harry looked liked he was going to his execution. Then he lowered his head and pressed his lips to Harry's.

It was like kissing a brick.

Harry's lips were a tightly pressed, rigid line against his, and even after a few moments of determined pressure they showed no signs of softening. Tom drew back slightly and frowned. Harry's eyes were still closed, and he looked as determined and stubborn as Tom had ever seen him. This was obviously going to be hard work, but Tom found himself eager to meet the challenge.

Again he placed his lips on Harry's, and again Harry showed absolutely no reaction. Frustration slowly started to replace the protectiveness Tom had been feeling. Could the reason Harry seemed so naïve be because he was completely passionless?

For the third time in as many moments Tom was annoyed, and deep down he had to acknowledge that his emotions were careening wildly around Harry. It didn't matter though, whatever happened, he wasn't going to fail again. Harry wasn't going to win. He wasn't sure when this had become a battle, he didn't care; he'd make sure that Harry gave in and responded or he'd swear to celibacy for the rest of his life, and a celibate lifestyle just didn't suit him at all.

Tom used every skill in kissing he possessed. He nibbled and licked, coaxed and seduced. His hands drew slow soft circles on Harry's back and finally he felt Harry trembling in his arms. He doubled his efforts and Harry's trembling increased.

Then, with a shudder and a gasp, Harry kissed him back, and Tom's whole world suddenly changed.

Instant heat surged through his veins, as Harry's tongue tentatively licked his bottom lip, and Tom immediately went for it. Met Harry halfway and then pushed even further, deep into Harry's mouth, sliding slow and sensuous along his tongue. Harry shuddered again, opened wider to the kiss... and then just sort of melted against Tom.

Briefly the thought crossed Tom's mind that he'd been a fool to think Harry passionless.

That was the last thought to cross his mind for some time.

He became a creature of sensation and reaction, losing himself into the kiss in a way that he hadn't experienced for quite a while. He'd suspected he was becoming jaded, after a long series of romantic encounters, but when Harry wound his arms tightly around Tom's neck and climbed up onto Tom's lap, he knew he wasn't jaded any more. He couldn't stop himself from groaning into Harry's mouth.

He needed to breathe. He didn't want to breathe if it meant leaving the delicious intoxication of Harry's lips, but if he didn't breathe soon he was going to faint. So he nibbled his way across Harry's cheek and licked his throat and when Harry tilted his head back in welcome, Tom felt well compensated.

Then Harry tensed and tried to pull away. Tom wasn't having that; he tugged Harry closer, his hands closing around Harry's hips, and nipped his earlobe.

"You're not going anywhere," he whispered in Harry's ear, and before Harry could answer, Tom took his lips again.

Tom's head was spinning. Harry was now responding to his kiss with an urgency that was delightful and very flattering, his tongue pushing into Tom's mouth, more and more demanding. In turn, Tom himself wanted more, he just couldn't get enough of Harry's hot mouth and his smooth, warm skin sliding under Tom's fingertips. When he pushed his fingers under the waistband of Harry's pants to get at even more of his skin, Harry rocked against him slightly and let out a soft moan, the sound causing a deep thrill throughout Tom's body.

Suddenly Harry jerked in his arms and broke the kiss. Tom opened his eyes and found Harry looking at him, his eyes darker even than normal, smoky with passion. His lips were swollen and wet, and Tom desperately wanted to taste them again, but as he leaned forward Harry quickly glanced away.

"Damn," he heard Harry whisper.

Tom followed the direction of Harry's gaze and got quite a shock himself. He'd totally forgotten where they were. The room was now half empty and as he watched, another couple rose to leave. The couples that remained were very busy; they certainly weren't noticing Tom and Harry watching them. Tom glanced at Harry and smiled in amusement when he saw the flush of embarrassment staining Harry's cheeks.

Then he followed Harry's eyes again and found that one of the Be'lal had noticed them watching. It was Gelvar, and the look on his face said quite clearly that he wanted to be in Tom's position.

Obviously it was time to leave. Besides they had that large, comfortable bed in their room to take advantage of, and no way was Tom letting a third person in it.

"Let's go back to our room," he said softly, and wasn't surprised when Harry swiftly stood.

It was difficult to walk to the lift normally. Tom was glad that Harry was behind him and that his long robe was so loose, hiding how aroused he'd become just from a couple of kisses. He wondered how Harry was coping and when he turned to face him and saw the bulge in Harry's pants, he almost laughed in triumph.

His mind was still buzzing with surprise at how powerful and hot it had been to kiss his best friend. In a short time, he'd gone from appreciation of Harry's body to absolute lust for Harry's body, and he wanted more, badly. As soon as the lift doors closed he stepped closer to Harry, crowding him against the wall.

He met Harry's eyes and his heart sank as he saw that Harry's fear had returned. Well, he'd overcome it once; he'd bet anyone he could overcome it again.

"What's up?" Tom asked in what he knew was his sexiest voice. "Or shouldn't I ask?" Tom slid his hand between Harry's legs and wrapped it around the erection he found there. Very nice, he thought.

Harry jumped. "Jeez, Tom," he squeaked indignantly.

Tom couldn't help smiling at the shocked expression on Harry's face. "Been a while, has it?" And he tightened his grip.

Immediately Tom knew he'd made a terrible mistake. Harry's eyes flashed furious fire and he pushed Tom away forcefully. Tom staggered back, regained his balance and held up his hands in his most pacifying manner.

"Hey, sorry," he said with his most appealing smile. "I just didn't expect it to be like this. Went to my head a bit, I guess." Ain't that the truth, he added mentally.

The lift doors opened, and Harry strode out of the elevator and slammed into their room, and Tom trailed behind him, hoping no one was around to see it. As soon as the door was closed Harry swung around and pushed him again.

"Well, just don't expect anything else," he practically snarled at Tom.

"Look, calm down will ya! Okay, I went too far. I said I was sorry. What more do you want?"

Jeez, Tom thought, how did things go this wrong so quickly? He edged closer to Harry, hoping that he'd get over his anger and they could get back to what they'd started downstairs. Instead, Harry took a quick step backwards and raised his hands.

"I want you to leave me alone."

Tom froze. "You do?"

"Look it was just an act, right?"

It was like a slap in the face, or a bucketful of cold water thrown at him, or hearing the words 'court martial' in the hospital after Caldik Prime, or the word 'prison' at his trial... Tom shook himself mentally and saw that Harry was now watching him nervously.

"It was?" His throat had closed up, making it difficult to talk.

"Yeah," Harry said softly.

There was a long moment of silence, in which Tom marvelled at how painful it was to know that Harry had 'acted' all that passion downstairs. And just as successfully as some of his own past performances. Really, it deserved a round of applause, so Tom gave him one and Harry almost jumped out of his skin.

"Well, I have to say, Harry, you're one helluva an actor. With more practice, you could even rival me," as he spoke Tom quickly crossed the room. "Think I'll take a bath now," and he slammed the door behind him.

Once inside the bathroom, Tom glared at himself in the large mirror.

"That's what you get for thinking with your dick," he said quietly. "Again."


	5. Chapter 5

Sunsets on Risa, even a fake Risa, were famous for their beauty, but Tuvok had always found them rather insipid, and this one was no exception. Hazy pinks and yellows could only bore someone who had seen the dramatic flare of brilliant scarlet, vibrant orange and virulent green that was a sunset on Vulcan. And the temperature on Risa dropped too dramatically after the sun went down, for a Vulcan who remembered nights of velvet heat and burning stars. Still, Tuvok patiently sat through the whole ordeal of twilight on the sands of Risa, and one thing only kept him there.

A few simple words _…you needed something from me, and I gave it to you,_ and Tuvok finally acknowledged the truth behind those words. He had needed something from Chakotay and the bond had given it to him. In all his logical reasoning about mating with Chakotay he had never expected it to be like this.

He had expected a mutual satisfaction of physical needs, and the support of an intimate friendship, but Chakotay's emotions were more powerful than that, and they resonated through the bond, creating a link stronger than Tuvok had imagined possible with a human, a link that satisfied him in ways that even his previous life bond with T'Pel had not. Perhaps it was for the best. After all, in three years time when he once again experienced the mating fever, it was logical to assume that Voyager would still be adrift in the Delta Quadrant, and the bond with Chakotay could now easily become a Pon Farr bond. Unfortunately, it was quite possible that that sort of commitment hadn't been included in Chakotay's plans for the future.

He would have to explain the situation, as much as he could, to Chakotay. He should have done so before, and now recognised that his own reluctance to reveal so much about his needs as a Vulcan was the reason he hadn't, and he rather thought that Chakotay knew it too. Not for the first time, his mate's insight had surprised him, and he suspected it would not be the last. In the future, he would have to be careful not to underestimate Chakotay again.

When he got to the bar area of the hotel Tuvok paused for a moment on the threshold. After two days of emptiness it was unusual to see so many other people, although they did not have the usual air of happy holidaymakers. The atmosphere was heavy with tension, and several of the holocharacters appeared to be mumbling to themselves sulkily. On the other side of the room Tuvok could see Chakotay poking a large Andorian in the chest.

Tuvok strode across the room, but just as he approached Chakotay, a Ferengi blocked his path.

"I wouldn't if I were you," the Ferengi confided in a whisper. "I shouldn't really tell you this, but I'd rather lose fifty bars of Latinum then talk to that… human… again!"

"I can arrange for you to lose more than that if you don't get out of my way."

The Ferengi jumped, spun swiftly, and then squeaked in terror at the grim look on Chakotay's face. He scuttled off as Chakotay gazed after him in satisfaction.

"I think I'll keep this subroutine," Chakotay commented, and then he glared demandingly at Tuvok. "Well?"

"I am sorry."

Surprise flickered over Chakotay's face and echoed faintly in Tuvok. He hadn't planned what he was going to say to Chakotay, but he certainly hadn't expected to hear himself make an immediate apology. Still, seeing the warmth creeping into Chakotay's eyes he had to admit the wisdom of this instinctive choice.

"What exactly are you apologizing for?" Chakotay asked, and Tuvok realized that he wasn't out of trouble yet. "For deliberately trying to mislead me? Patronizing me? Or using this mysterious bond to take advantage of me?"

Tuvok thought about this for a moment. "I see what you mean," he finally conceded. "However, I gather from what you said before, that you have also used the bond."

"I did not use it consciously," Chakotay immediately retorted. "And I never expected to be able to sense it. You must have had some idea what to expect."

Well, Tuvok had to admit his mate had him there, and it was another warning that he should never underestimate Chakotay.

"To a certain extent," he admitted, and watched Chakotay's face register his surprise.

"I don't understand. Isn't this normal? You've had bonds before, haven't you?"

"Only with Vulcans, never with someone..."

"...with emotions." Chakotay completed the sentence and Tuvok nodded. "But other Vulcans have had bonds with humans."

"Yes, however most of them have chosen a life bond," he saw Chakotay's confusion, and explained further, "Most Vulcan and Human pairings that I have heard of have chosen to mate for life, and have completed a Pon Farr bond. Vulcan's seem to have an attraction for Humans, which, before now, I had never understood. The element of unrestrained emotion in their partners is… seductive, as it can be experienced whilst retaining control, and in this case has led to a stronger bond than expected."

Chakotay was staring at him in fascinated horror, and Tuvok himself was a little surprised at just how much he'd revealed.

"Well," Chakotay finally spoke. "I have to thank you for being so clear, I guess, but you should have told me this before. I'm telling you now, Tuvok, if you ever take advantage of me like that again…" he broke off, his face flushing with what Tuvok knew was embarrassment.

"Just how much can you actually sense?" he asked abruptly, but before Tuvok could speak he answered himself swiftly. "You've given me what I wanted. In a way I'd never imagined. If you sensed enough to do that, then…" he broke off and shook his head. "You know how I feel."

"Yes," Tuvok admitted. "Though I do not understand why you cannot accept your feelings."

Chakotay's face was now a burning flame of red, and Tuvok wondered what he would do next. His admiration for his mate increased even further when Chakotay lifted his chin, and met Tuvok's eyes directly.

"It is not easy for me to lose control," said Chakotay, "and even less easy to admit that I need to."

They stared at each other for a long, quiet moment.

"So, about this bond?" Chakotay finally asked. "Just how strong is it?"

"Very strong," Tuvok admitted. "If we experience the Pon Farr together, it will be a life bond."

Chakotay flushed with embarrassment once again, and Tuvok sensed his annoyance with himself through the bond.

"Wasn't it a life bond you had with T'pel?" he asked.

"Yes, but it had faded considerably and must now be broken."

"So, it can be broken?"

"A bond can always be broken," Tuvok replied. "Is that what you want to do?"

"Well, is it what you want to do?"

For a moment, Tuvok was tempted to point out that he had asked first, but he rather felt that Chakotay might not appreciate it.

"This is not what I expected," he spoke carefully. "And I know that you did not expect it either."

"No, I didn't," Chakotay's voice was soft and thoughtful. "I don't know that I like being so exposed to you."

"There is time, Chakotay," Tuvok struggled with the need to reassure his mate, and his reluctance to speak of the Pon Farr. "I will not experience the Pon Farr for another three years."

He saw Chakotay swallow heavily. "Oh."

They eyed each other in silence.

"Well, what do we do now?" Chakotay finally asked.

"Oh for god's sake, I'd think that was obvious," an impatient female voice rang out through the room, and a Risan pleasure-worker flounced between them.

"Get a room," she continued, and then punched Tuvok on the arm. "And next time, teach him some manners. What we've had to put up with, really, it's just too much…"

"Computer, delete holocharacters!" Tuvok announced firmly.

Chakotay smiled at him.

* * *

It had been a difficult day for Harry Kim, and the evening had not proved any easier. He'd been swinging between anger and complete humiliation ever since they'd crashed on this stupid moon, and now something he'd always been afraid of had finally happened.

Harry wasn't as naïve as everyone liked to think, and after a year of watching Tom work his way through a steady plan of seducing any crew member he could (which was an awful lot of them), he'd guessed that one day Tom's roving eye would land on him.

And he'd dreaded it, because it would mean the end of their friendship. Tom was persistent and he hated to lose, he'd keep going until he got what he wanted, and Harry was determined not to be another one of Tom's conquests, no matter how attracted to Tom he was... and he had to admit he was.

Harry couldn't see how their friendship would survive the battle. Tom would resent his resistance, and Harry would hate Tom for pushing the issue and risking what they had. Eventually Harry would probably give in, and afterwards Tom would happily move on to his next temptation and Harry would be left to pick up the pieces of his broken heart, because he just knew that he'd end up falling in love with Tom. The bastard.

So when at that awful moment, Tom had suggested that he might prefer Gelvar, Harry had been supremely tempted to shock the hell out of Tom and say that, yes, he did. But then Tom had blindsided him by asking Harry to trust him, and Harry just couldn't resist. He trusted Tom.

What a mistake.

From the first moment Tom's lips had touched his, Harry had fought a losing battle, and Tom had shown no signs of mercy. Harry had struggled as hard as he could not to sink into Tom's seductive spell, but it had been just a matter of time really, and eventually he'd just let go and gone with it.

And now here he was, in their awful bedroom, staring at the bathroom door, which Tom had slammed practically in his face, after Harry had done something he'd never done before. Lied to Tom.

He'd done it out of complete and utter fear, and he knew that eventually Tom would realize it. It was just not fair, why couldn't he have just been a friend to Tom without feeling this added attraction? It had been easy to control it, when Tom had so obviously not felt the same way, but now that the spark had been ignited, they were well and truly on the road to disaster.

The sound of running water had stopped, and Harry wondered what Tom was thinking now. Harry's lie had hurt Tom, he'd seen it in Tom's eyes, in that cold, blank look that Harry had seen directed at other people but never at himself.

God, I wish we'd never come here, Harry thought desperately, what on earth do I do now?

That kiss downstairs had affected him more than he'd thought it would. Sure, he'd known he was attracted to Tom, had even sometimes fantasized about what it might be like, but the reality had far outstripped the fantasy, and his body still burned with the memory.

Harry shook himself, and realized that he was still standing, staring at the bathroom door. Slowly he walked over to the bed and gingerly perched himself on the edge of it. He could hear faint splashing from the bathroom, and dreaded the moment when Tom would come back through that door.

If only they could leave now, and just forget about the whole incident. Harry had no idea how he was going to get through the next three days. And what would happen if they had to 'perform' again?

Harry almost jumped out of his skin as the bathroom door suddenly swung open. Tom stood on the threshold, a soft towel slung around his hips, and Harry quickly looked away, feeling the flame of embarrassment burning his cheeks.

Tom stood for a moment, his eyes on Harry.

"I guess we'd better go to bed," he finally said, softly. "Could be a long day tomorrow."

"I'll sleep on the floor," Harry regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Just so stupid and Tom would probably smirk at him knowingly. Anger rose in Harry again, and he turned to gaze at Tom defiantly.

Tom returned the look, his eyes expressionless. "You know we can't do that, Harry. If the Be'lal realized we were sleeping separately we'd be risking the mission."

"How do we know that they don't?" Harry snapped. The calm reasonableness of Tom's reply had only fuelled Harry's anger, but it had confused him as well. Tom wasn't acting in the way Harry had expected he would.

"There's only one bed in the room, Harry," Tom pointed out. "And I hardly think they let their Possesseds sleep on the floor."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Harry muttered.

"Wouldn't you?" Tom asked, thoughtfully. "Whatever else we may think of their customs, I do think that they value their Possesseds. I don't think they'd ever harm them, or treat them badly."

"Hmphh," Harry snorted, and ran a hand distractedly through his hair, his anger fading.

"Listen, Harry, I owe you an apology. I got carried away. I shouldn't have pushed, but I'd forgotten how you feel about Libby."

Tom had said the words in a rush and it was a moment before Harry fully comprehended what he'd said. When he had, his mouth dropped open in shock.

"Libby?" It came out before he could stop himself and Harry heard the squeak of surprise in his own voice. He hastily pulled himself together, as a flicker of puzzlement crossed Tom's face. "Of course, Libby. Yes."

The truth was that Harry hadn't actually thought about Libby for many months, and it was odd to hear her name again after so long. It seemed almost the name of a stranger now, and it surprised him that Tom had thought of her. When they'd first been stranded in the Delta Quadrant the pain of the separation had sometimes overwhelmed him, and occasionally he'd talked to Tom about how he'd felt. But the constant strain of Voyager's ongoing struggle to get home, and all the other things that had happened, Seska, and the Kazon, had slowly eroded his love for Libby until she seemed nothing but a dim memory, and it had been a long time since he'd spoken of her, to Tom or anyone.

Harry looked up and found Tom staring at him, and there it was, finally, a knowing smirk.

"Well, so maybe the problem wasn't Libby," Tom's eyes seemed to be boring into him. "But you seemed afraid, Harry, and I only wanted to reassure you. As usual I went too far. It's a failing of mine."

"I was _not_ afraid." Again Harry had blurted something out before he could stop himself, and again he'd lied to Tom. If this kept going on it would be safer not to talk to Tom at all.

He saw Tom blink in surprise. "Harry, believe me, I know fear when I see it," he stated firmly, "and you were afraid."

Harry glared at him resentfully.

"Listen, Harry," Tom continued, "if you don't like being with men, then that's just the way it is. There's no need to be afraid. I respect that, and I won't go too far again."

Dimly, Harry realized that this was his chance, perhaps the only chance he would have, to get out of the situation. If Tom continued to believe that Harry feared sex with men, then the whole thing would end right now, and no matter what act they might have to put on for their Be'lal hosts, Tom would keep himself firmly under control. But, perversely, Tom's assumption and his thoughtless certainty that every person alive should be attracted to him, unless they had some sort of problem, made Harry more furious then he'd ever been before, and he shot off the bed and flung himself across the room, fists clenched and face burning.

" _How dare you!_ " Harry almost hissed into Tom's shocked face. "Just how innocent and naïve do you think I am? Oh, I know I could _never_ match your _extensive_ experience, but how _dare_ you accuse me of being afraid of something just because I've never done it." He gasped, as he realized what he'd just admitted. "Well, that's none of your business, but I can't believe you'd think me so… so… narrow-minded!"

"Whoa," Tom flung his hands up, and gave Harry a gentle push. "Back off. I wasn't trying to imply that you're narrow-minded; I was just trying to say that I understood if you had a problem. Jeez, give me a break, will ya? I felt bad about what happened. Felt like I'd taken advantage of you. Why are you so damned angry? We're both in this together, remember."

Suddenly the rage flowed out of Harry, and he felt completely exhausted. It seemed that Tom instinctively knew just what buttons to push in him, and if he didn't get himself under control there was going to be even more trouble.

"Yeah, sorry," he said wearily. "I'm just tired. And the whole situation is just… you know."

"Yeah, Tom answered softly. "I know."

The sympathy in his voice melted away the last remnants of Harry's anger, and he smiled up at Tom.

"I mean how would you like to be someone's sex slave?"

Tom grinned at him mischievously. "Actually, I..."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I shouldn't have asked."


	6. Chapter 6

Tom woke to a room flooded with relaxing green sunlight. 'Green sunlight,' he thought, 'that sure takes getting used to.' The temperature had risen again, but as the night hadn't exactly been cool, it hadn't risen by much. The heat wasn't as disturbing as he'd thought it would be; it seemed to create an atmosphere of delicious lethargy and a heavy feeling of constant, simmering... arousal.

He stretched luxuriously and wondered if the climate was the reason the B'elal culture so heavily emphasized sex. In a way, it was their economy, and their Possesseds were their version of Latinum.

He rolled his head to the side, but he already knew that Harry wasn't there; he could hear him splashing around in the bathroom.

Tom smiled to himself as he remembered how reluctantly Harry had crawled into the bed, and how he'd perched himself perilously on the far side. As if the bed wasn't big enough! Tom hadn't been able to resist, he'd made a point of stretching himself out, taking up as much space as possible and then he'd lazily said goodnight to Harry.

The response had been sullen silence.

_'Still,'_ Tom thought as he hauled himself out of the bed, _'Harry's never been this upset about a mission before. I guess I'd betta lay off on the teasing.'_ He pulled off the robe he was still wearing and dropped it on the floor. They hadn't been provided with nightwear, for obvious reasons, and Tom hadn't thought that Harry would cope with sleeping together naked, so he'd worn the robe. His eyes lighted with relief as he saw the fresh robe folded neatly on the end of the bed.

The bathroom door opened behind him, and Tom grinned to himself, as he heard the strangled gasp from Harry. Casually he stepped forward and picked up the robe, turning with it draped casually in front of him.

"Bathroom free?"

Harry looked slightly pink, the color obviously fading from the deeper red he'd been moments before. He nodded and stood aside as Tom strode forward, and entered the bathroom. Before he could close the door, Harry spoke.

"You were right," Harry's voice was slightly breathless. "Someone brought in new clothes while we were asleep. If we hadn't been..." his eyes glanced at the bed, "there could have been trouble."

Tom watched Harry for a moment, before closing the door. The signs were unmistakable, Harry had been flushed, breathless and he'd steadfastly not looked at Tom. _'He's definitely attracted to me,'_ Tom thought. _'So, what exactly is his problem then?'_

He washed and dressed quickly, all the time going over the conversation of the night before in his mind. Once he'd calmed down he'd realized pretty quickly that Harry had lied to him about it all being an act. Tom was too experienced not to recognise passion when he encountered it, and Harry had definitely been passionate. At first he'd concluded that Harry was feeling guilty about Libby, but Harry's reaction to that suggestion had been pretty obvious. Tom had been at first stunned, then strangely relieved, and finally amused. His next suggestion had been a spur of the moment guess, meant to provoke Harry into revealing himself, and it had certainly worked, but unfortunately Tom was still confused about exactly what was going through Harry's mind. He knew that Harry was definitely attracted to him, and he was definitely attracted to Harry, so why couldn't Harry just relax and enjoy the situation?

It was frustrating in more ways than one. Now that he knew how good it could be with Harry, Tom wanted nothing more than to get his friend into the nearest bed as quickly as possible. Still, Tom frowned to himself ruefully, Harry _was_ his best friend and he didn't want to lose that. If Harry had some sort of problem, then Tom would just have to respect it, and keep himself in check. He just hoped he'd be able to do it, particularly if they had to repeat last night's act, and Harry went up in flames in his arms again.

Tom heard the meal chime ring through their quarters again and grimaced to himself in the mirror. It looked like he was going to be tested sooner than he liked. He wrenched open the door, grabbed Harry's arm in passing and hauled him into the corridor.

"C'mon, we don't want to be late," he explained. "Gelvar told me the Veptek officially begins before the first meal of the day. And remember, no talking."

"Okay, okay," Harry muttered, wrenching his arm from Tom's grasp and following him into the elevator. "There's no need to drag me about like a personal belonging."

Tom couldn't resist raising a sardonic eyebrow, Tuvok fashion, and he was immensely relieved when Harry, after glaring at him for a moment, slowly smiled and then gave a soft snort of laughter.

Gelvar met them at the elevator. Tom could see over Gelvar's shoulder that the room was more full than he'd ever seen it, with the Leaders and their Possesseds all standing side by side in neat rows.

"All are here," Gelvar told him. "But a word first, if I may?"

Tom nodded and followed Gelvar over to one side, Harry trailing in his wake.

"Once the Veptek officially begins, there can be no more trades," Gelvar told him softly, and his eyes shifted briefly to rest on Harry. "I wonder, Leader Tom, if you would once more consider my request for a trade. My Possessed is of great value, although not as unusual as yours."

Tom could feel Harry's outrage behind him and he reached behind, taking his hand in a firm clasp. Gelvar smiled at him faintly.

"I think I have your answer," he said, a note of sad regret in his quiet voice.

"I hope you are not offended, Leader Gelvar," Tom returned the smile. "I am honored by your request, but you see, my Possessed and I have not been together for very long and..."

Gelvar held up a hand to stop his words. "Say no more, Leader Tom. I understand. Come, the Veptek begins now."

Tom, still holding Harry's hand, followed Gelvar and stood beside him, facing the large group of B'elal. Gelvar handed him a goblet of what he knew must be the Veptek juice, and then raised one of his own.

"The time of Veptek begins," announced Gelvar. "When all are honored in pleasure. To that pleasure we devote ourselves, rejoicing that we are joined by our visitor, Leader Tom." He raised his goblet and drank and then handed it to his Possessed, who also drank. Tom followed his example, and then everyone else did the same.

_'So that's that,'_ he thought. _'What the hell happens next?'_

As he sat on a cushion next to Gelvar, what happened next became immediately apparent and his eyes widened in surprise at the ease with which the B'elal immediately... devoted themselves to their pleasure. He glanced over at Harry, who was kneeling beside him, and saw that he was looking slightly sick. For the first time in his life, Tom doubted his ability to cope with this type of situation. Harry had been right to be frightened. He was rather frightened himself. So much so, that he was frozen in horror, could not move a muscle, and could not drag his eyes from the sights around him.

Eventually he glanced at Gelvar, and found him staring back. Then Tom really began to worry about his state of mind when Gelvar almost seemed to... waver... and then re-solidify. Tom gulped as Gelvar smiled at him.

"Leader Tom," he said, in that soft voice. "We realize that you are a stranger to us, that your customs may be slightly different. While you honor us in joining the Veptek we know that you may require more privacy than we of the B'elal. Therefore," he smiled again. "no one will object if you follow the normal code of courtesy."

Tom blinked in confusion. _'Normal code of...'_ There was a clue there, some sort of way out of this outrageous situation if he could just find it. He couldn't ask Gelvar; the B'elal leader had obviously expected him to understand and besides, he was already distracted with his own devotion to pleasure.

He pushed down a slight sense of panic and closed his eyes, mentally assessing everything that had happened to them since they'd arrived. Relief almost made him faint as he finally figured out what to do.

He opened his eyes and turned to Harry who, he saw, was white and trembling. 'God if he faints, we're done for,' Tom thought frantically. Damn it, why hadn't he expected it to be like this, but the idea of these types of orgies, where slaves who had no choice or rights were used like currency, was just so laughable in this day and age, that he'd never for a moment... He snapped out of it and gave Harry's shoulder a small shake.

"Food," he hissed. "Quick, get some food."

Harry stared at him dumbly for a moment and then quickly looked around. He grabbed the nearest plate and shoved it at Tom, and then gathered a couple more.

Tom never ate a meal so fast in his life. He barely chewed what he swallowed, and he practically crammed food into Harry's mouth until the poor kid almost choked. Tom could see the confusion and despair in Harry's eyes and he wanted to get him out of there immediately, but there was still one more thing they had to do.

Finally he judged they'd eaten enough, probably more than they should have at the speed they'd eaten it. He took a long drink of juice and then watched as Harry did the same.

'Well, here goes,' he thought. He reached out, firmly grasped Harry's arms, pushed him down onto the cushions and quickly pressed himself down onto Harry's suddenly struggling body.

"Shh, trust me, Harry," he whispered as comfortingly as he could. "We don't have to... After a few moments we can leave. Gelvar told me."

Harry froze, and then relaxed slightly and Tom could see the dawning relief in his eyes. The hard compressed line of Harry's lips softened and a sigh escaped them.

"Get on with it then," he whispered. "So, we can get the hell out of here."

Tom smiled and then leaned down to take those soft lips in a gentle kiss. Harry instantly surged up to meet him, almost taking Tom by surprise. He hoped that the eagerness was for him, but he had an unflattering feeling that Harry just wanted to escape as quickly as possible. He wanted to escape himself, but he wasn't going to let this opportunity slip by. He tightened his hold on Harry and pushed his tongue through his lips and into the hot haven of his mouth.

The sound that he'd wanted to hear again rewarded him. Harry moaned, almost whimpering, and then wound his arms around Tom's shoulders, pulling him closer. To Tom's surprise, there was no hint of fear in Harry's response to him. Perhaps his fear had just been at the situation after all. Tom could now certainly relate to that. Whatever the cause, it seemed that Harry had gotten over it, and faint stirrings of hope woke in Tom, and he wondered if maybe he'd get what he now wanted more than anything.

He pushed a knee forward between Harry's legs and waited to see what would happen. They both shifted slightly as the kiss deepened and Tom almost groaned in triumph when Harry's legs parted allowing him to rest between them. Finally he could feel Harry's arousal meeting his own and he pushed against it slightly. Harry gave that ragged moan again.

It was getting harder and harder to stay calm. Harry's mouth was intoxicating and addictive, wet and hot and slick. The body under him was hard, but every moment it was yielding more and more, moulding itself to his, and encouraging him to new heights of desire. He knew if they didn't stop this soon, they were going to be joining the orgy around them, and Harry would never forgive him. He'd never forgive himself.

Reluctantly he dragged himself away and couldn't help grinning when Harry's mouth followed him, latching onto his neck with delicious suction.

"Harry," he said, firmly.

Harry let go and lay back on the cushions, gazing up at Tom with smoky, dark eyes.

Tom took a deep breath. "Upstairs."

For a moment Harry actually looked adorably confused. Then he almost blanched, as he quickly looked around the room. It wasn't just the sights now that were disturbing, thought Tom, it was the sounds as well. While they'd been lost in their own world, he hadn't really noticed them, but now they rose and swelled all around him, making him feel more aroused then ever. While it was just the sounds he responded to, it was easy to forget that half of the participants in this orgy were slaves.

He scrambled to his feet, dragging Harry up with him. As they entered the elevator, he gave a quick glance back into the room. No one had even noticed their departure.

It was only when they entered their room that Tom noticed he was still holding Harry's hand. He didn't let go. They both stood for a moment, breathing deeply, and then Tom turned to face Harry.

"Do you still want me to leave you alone?" Tom asked quietly, determined to give Harry every chance to back out if he wanted or needed to. For himself, he knew that he wanted Harry with growing desperation, and every moment they stayed in this place was going to make it more difficult not to take him.

"Oh God," Harry blurted, abruptly pulling his hand out of Tom's. "What am I doing?"

_'This is not a good sign'_ , thought Tom, his heart sinking down to his feet.

Then Harry looked up at him, a speculating, measuring look, and Tom found himself feeling... flustered. His mouth dropped open in surprise, not only at the way he felt, but also at the fact that _Harry Kim_ had looked at him like that.

"I don't know," Harry finally said thoughtfully. "I need to think about it."

Tom nodded, still speechless.

"I think I'll take a bath," Harry said brightly, and strode off into the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind him.

For a full minute, Tom stood and stared at the opposite wall. He felt, rather like the world had shifted a few inches to the left and he was still standing in the same spot, out of phase with everything. It was a very disturbing feeling.

He frowned in puzzlement as his eyes finally got through to his brain that there was also something disturbing about the wall he was staring at. It was predominately white, as were all the walls in the tower, and it was also hung with the gauzy, colorful draperies that seemed to be the standard for B'elal interior design. However, a small patch of the wall seemed to be pitch black, and there were some bright yellow lines, like a grid pattern, running through the patch. Funny that he'd never noticed it before.

He stepped closer, his frown deepening, and it was with yet another profound shock that he realized he recognized the pattern.


	7. Chapter 7

Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, Chief Engineer of the Starship Voyager, slammed her fist down onto the computer panel, knocking two pads and three cups of Neelix' special coffee onto the floor of sickbay. She ignored the mess, which Neelix instantly started to clean, and continued to glare menacingly at the Doctor.

"For the last time. Shut. Up. I can fix this."

"If you'd listened to me in the first place, you wouldn't have to," the Doctor replied in his snippiest voice.

"Doctor," Kes' soft voice interceded. "Perhaps if we just let B'Elanna get on with it?"

The Doctor waved a hand airily in B'Elanna's direction. "By all means, let the Holo-expert who created this program, if I can call it that, continue to astound us with her technical genius."

"Look, it's not my fault they keep going against the program. If they'd just get on with it..." B'Elanna snarled impatiently, avidly watching the numbers scrolling across the screen in front of her. "But if you think you can do better, go ahead."

"I might remind you that _I_ am a holoprogam."

"That doesn't mean you can program one, you idiot. Remember what happened last time you tried to, Mr. Squirrel."

Neelix, having cleared away the debris on the floor, took advantage of the Doctor's speechless indignation to make a helpful suggestion.

"Couldn't we just shut it down and reload it while they're asleep?"

"Yes, but they're not asleep now."

"Well, can't you make them go to sleep?"

B'Elanna directed a look of scathing contempt at him. "They're not part of the program. I can't just tell them what to do. That's part of the problem. The longer the program runs, the more variables there are. I must have missed something," she admitted through clenched teeth.

"Ha!" snorted the Doctor.

"Well, can't you just release some gas into the air and make them go to sleep?" Neelix looked hopefully from the Doctor to B'Elanna.

"No," said Kes, gently but firmly. "No more drugging people."

"Well, as we've already kidnapped them..." the Doctor said thoughtfully.

B'Elanna looked at him in surprise. "Don't you have an ethics subroutine? Or have you been tinkering with that as well? Anyway, we _haven't_ kidnapped them. They're still in the holodeck, exactly where they're supposed to be."

" _Paris to Torres._ "

Everyone jumped as the voice of Tom Paris echoed from B'Elanna's combadge.

"FUCK," said B'Elanna, fiercely.

"B'Elanna!" Neelix gasped.

"Sorry. What do I do?"

No one answered her.

" _Paris to Torres. Answer me B'Elanna. I know you're out there and if you'd prefer me to com the Captain I'll be happy..."_

B'Elanna hit her combadge. "Hello Tom," she said, cheerfully. "Nice to hear from you. How's it going down on that lovely moon? Having a nice time? Well, we have so much work to do here, and..."

" _Cut the crap, B'Elanna,"_ Tom's voice interrupted. " _What I want to know is why I'm on the holodeck, in this hell of a program of yours."_

"It's not that bad, is it?" B'Elanna asked, anxiously. "I wanted to know what you and Harry thought of it, that's all."

" _What we thought... Does Harry know about this?_ " Everyone could hear the suspicion in his voice.

"Not exactly."

" _I didn't think so. And just when did you put us in the holodeck, that's what I want to know. Or should I ask, when did you lock us in the holodeck? I can't even get at the arch. For God's sake, what about the galacite?"_

"Oh no, Tom," Kes broke in, reassuringly. "There's no galacite. That was all part of the program."

" _Kes? Oh my God. Please don't tell me that the Doctor and Neelix are there as well."_

"Hello, Tom," Neelix cheerfully greeted him.

_"HAVE YOU ALL GONE COMPLETELY MAD?"_ Tom's voice almost exploded out of B'Elanna's combadge. _"It's only that they've been on shore leave that the Commander and Tuvok haven't already reported what you did to them to the Captain. What do you think she'll do when she hears about this, on top of that? B'Elanna, I can't believe you'd go along with something like this!"_

"Well, I had my doubts," B'Elanna replied resentfully. "I still think Harry's too good for you. And all we've done is helped you out with your shore leave. You are off-duty remember."

"And I think the Commander and Mr. Vulcan are grateful that we helped them," added Neelix.

For a moment a strange sort of spluttering came from B'Elanna's combadge and then finally Tom spoke again. _"Terminate this program, now."_

"Mr. Paris," the Doctor interrupted. "I don't like to interfere, but are you sure you wish to waste such an opportunity. You do seem to have been making progress, after all. If you just give it a little more time..."

" _You've been watching us?"_

B'Elanna frowned warningly at the Doctor. "Good gracious, no, Tom," she said soothingly. "Well, only enough to keep track of the program, of course. You may have noticed a few little glitches. I had to keep adjusting things when you deviated from the expected course of the program."

" _You make it sound like my fault,"_ came the incredulous reply.

"Well, you know if you just got on..." B'Elanna noticed Kes' frantic hand signals and changed track. "Well. There's no reason why you can't just finish the program. Just a little harmless fun. I don't know that I'd tell Harry though. He might not get the joke, right now, but if you stay in the program, get things sorted out, he'd be happy by the end. You both would be. And you could always pretend you didn't know about it."

" _B'Elanna your precious program is crashing as we speak. It's only a matter of time before Harry notices as well."_

"Well, tell me how to fix it, and then you'll never have a reason to tell Harry that you knew about it. It's just two more days."

There was a very, very long silence, in which B'Elanna anxiously watched the computer screen, made a few adjustments, and ignored the other three gazing at her in amazement.

"Tom?" she eventually asked. "Are you there? We're running out of time."

" _Ok,_ " Tom replied. _"I'll tell you what to do. But I gotta say, you went way too far with the Veptek thing, and we're gonna tone it down. What the hell were you thinking?"_

"I told you so," the Doctor hissed triumphantly.

"I thought a pig like you could cope with it, Paris."

_"Oh is that right? Well, Harry almost threw up. I almost threw up."_

B'Elanna sniffed. "You humans have such weak stomachs."

Twenty minutes later, the program was under control and Tom had signed off. The four in the sickbay heaved a collective sigh of relief, and smiled at each other.

"You know, it's really annoying how good he is at that," B'Elanna directed a wistful look at the computer panel.

"I can't believe that you talked him into going along with it," Kes exclaimed.

"Well, I guess he does really love Harry, after all. The main thing is that the Captain won't find out."

The sickbay doors hissed open, and they all jumped as Captain Janeway strode into the sickbay.

"Why is there a privacy lock on this door?" she demanded. "There are not supposed to be privacy locks on sickbay. It's against regulations, unless there is the threat of a security breach."

She came to a halt and eyed them suspiciously. "Is there a threat of a security breach?"

"Not at all, Captain," the Doctor replied smoothly. "Lieutenant Torres has just been helping me with a slight adjustment to my program, and we thought it best not to be interrupted, but we're quite finished now."

"Is that so? Well, in future, place no more locks on the sickbay doors unless authorized to do so. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Captain."

The Captain nodded and returned to the exit. As she reached the threshold, she hesitated, and then glanced over her shoulder.

"This isn't anything to do with... squirrels... is it?

"No, Captain," the Doctor assured her firmly.

* * *

Tuvok and Chakotay stood in the corridor outside the holodeck doors, in an atmosphere of strangely distant formality. The night before they had made love again, but the pleasure of the act had been touched with a measure of restraint. Tuvok had not needed the bond to sense this in Chakotay, and he'd been well aware of the same reaction in himself. Afterwards they had sought refuge in sleep, and woken so late that their departure from the holodeck was somewhat rushed.

Now they stood in the hallway, gazing at each other with a slight sense of bewilderment.

"Well." It was Chakotay who finally broke the silence. "I had a very good time, Tuvok. Thanks."

Tuvok realized that Chakotay was watching him expectantly, clearly waiting for some sort of response.

"I also had an enjoyable experience."

Briefly he glimpsed a twinkle in Chakotay's eyes, but it was gone so quickly he could not be really certain it had been there.

"So, I guess we both have a lot to think about."

"Yes," Tuvok agreed.

"And perhaps a lot to talk about?" The question was tentative.

"Yes," Tuvok agreed, and immediately sensed the relief in his mate.

"So, your place or mine?" The twinkle in Chakotay's eyes was definitely there. "I mean, for the talking."

"I will abide by your decision, Commander," Tuvok raised an eyebrow, and saw a smile break out on Chakotay's face.

"Mine then, Lieutenant," he said. "2030 hours."

And with that, they went their separate ways. Tuvok reported to the bridge, took his station, and started catching up on the backlog of reports from his security team. Except for a brief moment on the bridge, Tuvok did not see Chakotay. The First Officer disappeared into the Captain's Ready Room for the first part of the shift, where, Tuvok guessed, he was preparing for the handover of command, which would occur on the return of Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim, when the Captain would actually take her own shore leave.

During the mid-shift break, Tuvok ate in the Mess Hall, where he politely tolerated Neelix's cooking as well as his smug expression. It was obvious that Neelix was still priding himself on his involvement in Tuvok's relationship with Chakotay. For a while Tuvok contemplated various methods of making certain that Neelix never involved himself in anyone's relationship ever again, but as all the methods seemed to breach StarFleet regulations it seemed illogical to continue.

And then Kes came running through the door, grabbed Neelix by the arm and dragged him out of the Mess Hall. Tuvok frowned slightly. The whole incident had looked frantically guilty and incredibly suspicious.

Tuvok left the Mess Hall and strode to the nearest computer panel.

"Computer, what is the location of Mr. Neelix?"

"Crewmember Neelix is in the sickbay."

"Are there any other crewmembers in the sickbay?"

"Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres and Crewmember Kes are also located in the sickbay."

"Is the Doctor activated?"

"Yes, the Doctor was activated at 0900 hours."

Tuvok's suspicions were definitely raised now and he wondered if he himself should go to the sickbay and see what they were up to. However, if they were on ships business it would only look strange for him to check up on them, and Tuvok knew that Chakotay still hadn't decided how to deal with the four miscreants. And there wasn't much they could get up to in sickbay. They were probably just plotting their next victims' fate, and he was sure that they would be stopped before they got to take any action.

Tuvok returned to the bridge slightly ahead of time, and sent his relief Ensign on a manual sensor sweep of the cargo bays. He'd decided it wouldn't hurt to keep track of the four in sickbay, and he quickly put a tracer lock on their combadges.

Forty-five minutes later, Kes, Neelix and Lieutenant Torres left the sickbay. The Chief Engineer returned to engineering, and Kes and Neelix went to the mess hall. There was certainly nothing suspicious about that, and after another thirty minutes of no activity Tuvok removed the tracer before his relief Ensign returned.

Still, he wondered what they had been up to.

Then a large star ship came out of nowhere and fired at them, completely distracting him.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry Kim was disgusted with himself. It seemed he now had absolutely no self-control where Tom Paris was concerned and it dismayed him how quickly it had happened. Tom just had to look at him and he was burning with arousal; how on earth was he going to get through the next couple of days?

He still did not have an answer to Tom's question, or his own. Actually, that wasn't strictly true, Harry admitted to himself ruefully, he did know that he didn't want Tom to leave him alone, he just didn't know what he was doing.

Perhaps it was just no use resisting any longer. If he walked into the situation with his eyes wide open, and a few guidelines laid out, then he might have some semblance of control. Harry nodded his head decisively. One thing was certain he couldn't stay in the bathroom forever; he'd have to face Tom eventually.

He got out of the bath and grabbed a towel, drying himself quickly. Now that he'd made up his mind he wanted to meet his fate as soon as possible. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all, Harry smiled to himself as he dragged on the pants.

He opened the door, glancing around the room and frowned in puzzlement when he saw Tom in the corner. Tom seemed to jump slightly and he quickly moved to the centre of the room, but Harry was pretty sure he'd been inspecting the wall minutely.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Tom said quickly. "Just bored."

"Right," said Harry, doubtfully. Now that he was face to face with Tom again, all his nervous indecisiveness seemed to be returning, and he wondered what to say next.

"Good bath?" Tom asked, and Harry got the very strange feeling that Tom was actually nervous as well.

"Yeah," Harry replied. He shook himself out of the daze he seemed to be in, and took a step into the room. "Uh… look Tom," he faltered to a halt. He really didn't know how to say what he wanted to say.

But Tom, it seemed, had recovered himself, for he was now smiling at Harry in a particularly unnerving way.

"You're still wet," and suddenly Tom was right in front of him, and he reached out one finger to Harry's chest, caught a droplet of water, and then licked it off his finger. Harry swallowed heavily.

"Look, Tom, just while we're on shore leave okay?" He'd finally managed to blurt it out.

"What?" Tom looked puzzled.

"I can't…" Harry tried to explain. "Just while we're here, and then we go back to being just friends."

Tom smiled slowly. "Do you think that will work, Harry? These things usually have to run their course you know."

A small sliver of painful foreboding stabbed into Harry's heart. Tom's words seemed to somehow reflect all of Harry's fears, that Tom would treat him just as he had all his other love affairs.

"Well, it will _have_ to work," Harry said, but he could hear the doubt in his own voice.

"Whatever." Tom was still smiling at him, and Harry almost hated how confident he looked.

"Tom…"

"Harry, just trust me, okay?" Tom's head bent and Harry closed his eyes as Tom's lips softly brushed against his.

He gave in. He'd never had a chance really. "Okay," he breathed, just before Tom's mouth closed firmly over his own.

It was the first time they had kissed without it being forced on them, and Harry hadn't thought it possible that it could get any better, but it was. Tom's lips moved over his own with tender assurance, and Harry quickly fell under their spell completely. Why the hell did Tom have to be so good at this, he wondered frantically and then that was his last thought for quite awhile. Tom's tongue brushed against his, slowly, so slowly that Harry almost felt that time had stopped, catching them in their own little pocket of pleasure.

He sighed into Tom's mouth, and felt Tom's arms sliding around his waist, warm hands smoothing sensuously over his skin. Harry shivered, and then suddenly Tom was pushing him, guiding him backwards, until eventually his legs hit the bed.

Tom's lips broke away from his and he opened his eyes to find Tom gazing down at him. Tom's eyes seemed to hold a question, and immediately Harry knew what it was. He nodded slightly, and slid back onto the bed, Tom following him. For a moment Tom knelt over him, and Harry felt a small frisson of fear at what he was about to do. But then Tom's lips were on his again, and he felt the weight of Tom's body pressing him into the bed.

The simmering arousal that Harry had been feeling now built into flames again, and he wrapped his arms around Tom pulling him yet closer.

"Harry," it was almost a shock to hear his name breathed hotly in his ear.

Tom lifted himself slightly and nudged a knee between Harry's legs, his mouth diving onto Harry's once more, as Harry moaned and writhed against Tom. It was all so unbelievably good but he wanted more, and he grabbed at the robe Tom was still wearing, tugging and pulling it up over his shoulders.

"Okay," Tom's voice sounded amused, but he lifted himself up again and pulled the robe up off over his head. Harry looked up at him almost in a daze, as Tom then dragged his own pants down his legs and threw them onto the floor. With shock, Harry realized they were completely naked, and blushed, it all seemed to be happening so fast.

"Are you all right?" Harry could hear the slight concern in Tom's voice, and reddened even more. But he reached up, wrapped one hand around Tom's neck, and pulled his lips down to his own.

This time the kiss was red hot, and Harry could feel the hunger in it. He responded with his own desperation, opening his mouth wider to Tom's questing tongue, and groaning loudly. Desire flushed through his body, when he heard another groan, and realized it was Tom. Tom's weight pressed down on him again, and then he felt something he'd never felt before. He froze.

"Oh God," he breathed. Tom's cock was pressing against his own, hot and heavy, and hard.

"Yeah," Tom whispered. "Feels good, doesn't it?"

Harry couldn't reply. He was lost in the sensation, pushing up against Tom, desperate for more friction. Tom answered his need, with powerful thrusts of his own, and Harry, feeling the pressure rising, tossed his head from side to side in mindless ecstasy.

_**"This is the Captain speaking. We are under attack. All hands to battle stations.**_ "

For a moment Harry wasn't sure he'd heard it, and then he thought he'd imagined it, and then he realized that Tom had stopped moving and was kneeling above him, a look of frozen horror on his face.

"What the hell?" Harry asked, in startled amazement.

"FUCK **,** " the word exploded out of Tom and the next moment he was off the bed, searching the floor frantically for their clothes. "I _don't_ believe it."

"Tom…"

Tom flung Harry's pants at him, and started to pull his own robe over his head. "Get moving, Harry," he ordered tersely. "We have to get to the bridge."

Harry stared at him blankly. "Tom, we're _not on_ Voyager. How did we hear that alert?"

"We don't have time for this, Harry. Computer, end program."

**"** _OWW!_ " Harry yelled, as the bed disappeared and he fell heavily to the floor. The black and yellow gridlines of the holodeck shimmered into view around him, and he stared up at Tom almost sick with shock.

"We're on the _holodeck?_ " he breathed.

"Put your pants on Harry. We have to hurry." Tom was tugging on his arm.

Harry stood and mechanically pulled on the flimsy pants, his mind numb. Blindly he followed Tom out of the holodeck, down the corridor and into the turbolift.

"Bridge," ordered Tom.

Finally the truth hit Harry with devastating clarity, and he turned to Tom with the bitterness of betrayal rising in his throat.

"You _knew_ ," he hissed.

"No, I didn't," Tom answered immediately, but his eyes weren't meeting Harry's. "Well, not at first. It wasn't my program."

"You knew," Harry repeated.

"Harry, trust me, I…"

"I _did_ trust you," Harry interrupted furiously. "But never again."

Tom reached out a hand, and Harry could see the distress in his eyes. "Harry…"

" _Don't touch me,_ " Harry said, surprised at the calmness of his voice. "Don't you _ever_ come near me again."

Then the turbolift doors opened, and they were on the bridge.

"Gentleman," Captain Janeway turned as she spoke. "Sorry, to interrupt your…" She froze and stared at them in surprise, and Harry realized, to his complete shame and humiliation that he was actually wearing the Be'lal slave pants on the bridge of Voyager.

Tom brushed past him, heading for the helm, and Harry noticed with even more resentment that Tom was at least reasonably dressed in the robe.

Then the ship shuddered slightly and Harry remembered that they were actually under attack and he strode to his station, glaring at the stupidly gaping ensign already there. He glanced at the panel.

"Direct hit. Shields at 95 percent. No damage." He reported tersely.

"Their weapons are no danger to us." Tuvok's calm voice announced.

"Evasive manoeuvres." Captain Janeway ordered. "Open a com channel."

Fifteen minutes later it was over. It appeared that a small colony on a nearby seemingly deserted planet had taken exception to Voyager's presence in their space, but once Captain Janeway had explained that they were only passing through, and Tuvok had fired a couple of warning phaser shots, they had given up their attack and left.

"Well," Captain Janeway looked around the bridge in satisfaction and finally her eyes rested on Harry. He could plainly see the speculative amusement in them, and flushed miserably. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tom rise to his feet hesitantly, and Captain Janeway glanced at him.

"Once again, gentlemen," she said. "I apologize for interrupting your shore leave. It looks as if you were enjoying it." Her gaze returned to Harry, and he realized that everyone on the bridge was now looking at him, with varying degrees of amusement and curiosity. The anger that had died down during the attack, now returned in full force, and he lifted his chin pugnaciously.

Captain Janeway's eyes widened slightly. "Ah, you can return immediately to the holodeck, gentlemen. The crisis is over. You are free to continue your shore leave."

"I no longer require shore leave, Captain," Harry could not keep the fury out of his voice, and he strove to keep calm. "I will return to shift tomorrow. Permission to leave the bridge?"

"Harry…" It was Tom who spoke, and there was an apologetic plea in his tone. Harry steadfastly ignored him and continued to gaze enquiringly at the Captain.

"Permission granted," she sounded confused.

Of course, he'd forgotten he would have to walk through the corridors of the ship to reach his quarters, and as the red alert was now over, those corridors were full of crewmembers. Everyone he met stared at him, and all of them looked thoroughly agog with curiosity. Some laughed at him, there were even a few whistles of appreciation, but after one look at his face, no one dared to speak to him.

Harry reached his quarters, put a privacy lock on his door, flung himself onto the couch and buried his head in his hands.


	9. Chapter 9

As Commander Chakotay lowered himself into the First Officer's chair on the bridge of Voyager, he intercepted a puzzled look from his Captain.

"And what do you think _they've_ been up to?" She whispered confidentially, leaning toward him.

"Judging from Harry's… outfit… I would think it was pretty obvious," he replied in a low tone. "Unfortunately, it seems to have ended with an argument."

For Harry Kim had certainly stormed off the bridge, and a few moments later Tom Paris had followed him. The Captain sighed.

"You know lately I sometimes feel like I'm living in a world created by a bad romance novelist."

To his extreme annoyance, Chakotay felt himself blush, and he steadfastly refused to meet her eyes.

"Well, for the sake of my sanity," she continued. "I hope they sort it out. I hadn't even realized they were involved. Had you?"

Chakotay shook his head. The whole thing rather worried him. Tom and Harry had always seemed just the closest of friends, and Tuvok had detailed to him how many of Tom's liaison's he'd observed. Now it seemed Harry was the latest on a long list, but it seemed strange that Harry would risk a friendship he valued so highly.

"Still," the Captain's speculative voice interrupted his thoughts, "I must find a way of having those pants incorporated into Starfleet's uniform."

For a moment, Chakotay wasn't sure he'd heard right, but when he met the Captains eyes they were brimming with laughter.

And he had to admit, Harry had looked damn fine in those pants.

* * *

Before he even got to the mess hall, Chakotay realized that Voyager was buzzing with speculation about Harry Kim's spectacular appearance on the bridge, and while he felt sympathy for the young Ensign, he also felt extreme relief that he and Tuvok were no longer the No.1 topic of discussion.

He grabbed a tray and made his way to a single table near the viewport, glancing around the room as he went. Neither Harry nor Tom were anywhere in the room, and Chakotay guessed it would be some time before either of them appeared in public.

But then he noticed a strange sight.

Two tables down from his, B'Elanna, Kes, and Neelix were sitting together, heads down, and not eating. And they were completely silent.

Chakotay's heart dropped in apprehension. He had a terrible feeling that those three, and probably the Doctor as well, knew far more about the Harry and Tom situation than anyone else on the ship, including Harry and Tom themselves.

_'Damn them!_ ' Chakatay thought. _'What the hell has gotten into them? If I find out that they've… well, I won't report them, I'll kill them!_ '

His food tasted like ashes in his mouth… even worse than usual. This new concern on top of his own doubt about the bond with Tuvok was just what he didn't need. He'd never felt so unsettled in his life as he had in the last few weeks, not even when he'd left Starfleet and joined the Maquis.

He looked at his chrono and saw that it was 2000 hours. Another half hour and he'd be with Tuvok again, and he wasn't sure if he was looking forward to it or dreading it. He'd already opened himself to Tuvok far more than he'd planned to, and it hadn't exactly been his own choice, either. Even though Chakotay had now acknowledged his own need to occasionally be controlled, he still felt slightly humiliated and ashamed about it.

Chakotay realized he'd stopped eating and gave up on the idea of dinner. Tuvok had stayed behind on the bridge to make a security report to the Captain but he'd probably be finished by now. Chakotay left the mess hall and made his way to his quarters.

* * *

When Chakotay reached his quarters he found Tuvok already there. The Vulcan was seated on the couch but he rose to his feet as Chakotay entered the room and stood looking at him thoughtfully.

Chakotay immediately launched into speech. "Quite an interesting day on the bridge wasn't it? You know I rather think that B'Elanna and those other three idiots may have been up to their tricks again."

"I tend to agree," Tuvok replied.

"Oh?"

"They spent some time together in the sickbay today, and after the incident on the bridge I took the precaution of checking the Holodeck records. The program that Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim were using was originally created by Lieutenant Torres. It was a very… interesting… program, and it appears to breach the Starfleet regulation that states that no Starfleet member shall create a hologram of another Starfleet member, unless permitted or ordered to do so."

"Who was in it?" Chakotay asked curiously.

"Captain Janeway."

"Hmm," Chakotay frowned thoughtfully. "I doubt she'd given them permission."

"Even more disturbing are the transporter records. They show that yesterday during Gamma shift both Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim were transported into Holodeck 2. There is no record of who initiated that transport."

"Dammit!" Chakotay swore. "This is getting completely out of hand. Whatever happened on that Holodeck has obviously made Harry furious with Tom, and I bet you anything those four are responsible for it. I've let this go on for too long."

"Will you report it to the Captain?"

Chakotay thought for a moment, and then shook his head.

"I'd rather handle this myself."

* * *

Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, Chief Engineer of the Starship Voyager, hovered nervously and uncertainly in the corridor outside Harry Kim's quarters. She still couldn't believe what had happened. She'd been in Engineering when she'd heard the Captain's call for battle stations, and she'd known immediately that it had also gone to the Holodeck. Later, she'd heard the gossip throughout the ship about Harry's outfit, and while she'd felt guilty about his humiliation, a secret part of her also wished she'd seen it. After all, she'd designed it.

But she'd gathered enough from the bridge crew's whispered comments, to know that Harry had been furiously angry, and that most of that anger had seemed to be directed at Tom. Kes and Neelix had been horrified when she'd told them, and none of them had been able to think of anything to do. In the end, there'd only seemed to be one solution, and so here she was, as the one closest to Harry, trying to get up the courage to do it.

Suddenly, Harry's door slid open and B'Elanna almost jumped out of her skin. Harry was standing in the doorway glaring at her. He was in uniform. And he looked as if he was still very angry.

"Get lost, B'Elanna," he practically snarled.

Irrationally, his tone only had the affect of making B'Elanna furious herself, and she reached out and shoved Harry hard in the chest. He stumbled back into his quarters and she followed him quickly.

"I have to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to…"

"Shut up, Harry," she'd decided that the only way to do this was to get it over as quickly as possible. "The program was mine. Tom had no idea."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Don't try it, B'Elanna. I've already hacked into the thing, and I know some of the programming was Tom's."

Damn it, she'd forgotten that Harry was just as good as Tom with Holoprograms.

"Well, he did repair it, but he didn't know at first," the lameness of her reply annoyed even herself, so she wasn't surprised when Harry slammed one fist into the palm of his other hand.

"Oh, really," Harry's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Well, that just makes it all so much better doesn't it? What did you hope to achieve here, B'Elanna? You don't even like Tom that much."

"You're my friend, Harry," she insisted. "I care…"

" _Friend?_ " Harry's interruption was incredulous. "Friends don't do what you've done to me. My God, you set me up as a slave, and then you arranged for the person I trusted most to take advantage of that. And then to top it all off, the whole ship ends up…"

Harry was shaking his head in frustration and B'Elanna had to admit that it did sound really bad when he put it like that.

"We were trying to help…"

"Help," said Harry, flatly. "Ha. And just who do you mean by we? No, don't tell me, I can guess. Neelix, and Kes, and the Doctor, I bet." B'Elanna could see Harry flushing with rage as he mentioned each name, and his voice rose to a scream as he continued. "My so called FRIENDS! Well, not anymore. I HATE YOU. ALL OF YOU! COME NEAR ME AGAIN AND I'LL KILL YOU! NOW. FUCK. OFF!"

She'd never seen him like this and she backed away in alarm her hands held up in front of her, trying to calm him down.

"Okay, okay," her voice sounded breathless. "I'm going. We'll talk more when you've calmed down."

Before he could reply, she shot out the door.

* * *

B'Elanna had reached the end of the corridor, when she was suddenly grabbed from behind, pushed through a door into a small observation lounge, and slammed into the wall. A strong arm held her in a vice like grip, and her head was held against the wall by a hard hand.

"Look, Harry," she began.

"Wrong victim, B'Elanna." The voice was Tom's, and it sounded quiet and deadly.

"Oh, hello Tom," she grimaced at how weak she sounded. For a moment, she considered fighting Tom off, but it would probably only make things worse. And they were bad enough already.

"Hello," he actually sounded amused. "Have a nice chat with Harry? I'm just curious, you know, because he'll probably never talk to _me_ again."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll get over it all eventually," she tried to sound nonchalant, but it was surprisingly hard with her face squashed into a wall.

"You know, I don't blame you entirely. After all, I did make the decision to stay in the program, didn't I?"

"Well, that's very generous of you, Tom."

"Yes, I thought so. But I do have one thing to say, and I'd appreciate it if you'd pass it on to your little circle of torturers."

"Sure," she gasped. "I'd be happy to do that for you."

He leaned forward, pressing her even more firmly into the wall, and his next words hissed unpleasantly in her ear.

_"I promise you, if I can find a way to put you all through the hell that you've put Harry through, I'll do it."_

Then he was suddenly gone, and B'Elanna fell to the floor. She got up and straightened her uniform, breathing rather heavily.

As she made her way to sickbay, she reflected that neither conversation had gone particularly well.

* * *

Neelix, Kes and the Doctor were waiting impatiently when she got there, and they immediately gathered around her.

"How did it go?" Kes asked anxiously.

"I think we're in trouble," B'Elanna stated flatly.

"Oh dear," said Neelix.

"That's an understatement," B'Elanna replied. "I also ran into Tom. He's not particularly happy either. In fact, it would be wise if we all stayed out of his way as much as possible. You were right about one thing, Neelix, he's certainly protective of Harry."

"Oh dear," said Neelix, again. "This is going to take some fixing."

"FIXING?" B'Elanna screeched.

The other three jumped, and looked around nervously.

"Oh, stop it," she snapped. "Don't you think we've managed to do enough, Neelix?"

"But we can't leave it like this," Neelix sounded so certain that B'Elanna wanted to thump him.

"Particularly after our success with Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Tuvok," the Doctor added.

"Your success?"

This time all four of them jumped, and B'Elanna whirled round to see Commander Chakotay standing in the sickbay doorway. He strode into the room, and the calm serenity of his countenance told her that this bad day… was about to become infinitely worse.

"You call it your success do you? It's pure luck that you didn't kill us." He came to a halt in front of B'Elanna. "I warned you about interfering in my life, and I know you ignored that warning."

B'Elanna's eyes fell before the cold accusation in his, and beside her Kes sighed. Neelix shuffled his feet restlessly.

_"You make me sick!"_

The words seemed to burst out of Chakotay, alarming in their intensity, and B'Elanna stared at him in shock. She'd never heard him so angry, but already he seemed to have regained his self-control.

"Chakotay, I'm sorry…" she'd finally found her voice, but the Commander flung up a hand and she faltered to a halt.

"Stand to attention, all of you!"

For a moment they were frozen, and Kes gasped. B'Elanna pushed at her, forcing her into line, and the Doctor and Neelix stepped into place beside her.

Chakotay stared at each of them for a moment, and then gazed at Kes, disappointment clearly in his face. "I'd thought better of you, Kes." As he turned away, B'Elanna heard a soft sob and knew that Kes was crying.

"I don't know exactly what you did to Tom and Harry on the holodeck," Chakotay's voice was now calmly polite but B'Elanna could hear the steel underlying it. "But you did do something. Obviously interfering with Lieutenant Tuvok and myself wasn't enough for you."

He paced away from them for a moment and then turned to face them once more. "I'm partly to blame for what's happened today." They all looked at him in stunned surprise but he had already gone on. "I knew what you'd been up to, and I should have dealt with it before you managed to ruin someone's relationship. I'm not sure why I didn't, but I didn't, and now Tom and Harry will pay for it. But so will you, you probably already are. It will be a long time before any of us forgive you, but I suppose in the end we'll have to. We're stuck here and that's that."

"I won't report this to the Captain and there will be no official record. Our personal lives have already been too exposed, thanks to your games. But. This. Will. End. Now."

Chakotay moved to stand in front of the Doctor and Neelix, and he looked sternly into their faces. "There will be no _'fixing'_ of anything. No matter what happens, you will do absolutely nothing. If I get _one inkling_ of any actions undertaken by any of you, I will immediately inform the Captain, and I promise you that my recommendation to her will be the immediate court-martial of Lieutenant Torres and the Doctor, and the departure of Neelix and Kes at the earliest possible opportunity. Do you all understand?"

Speechless, they all nodded their heads.

"You are all confined to quarters until the next shift. Keep out of my sight."

The sick bay doors closed behind him as he swiftly left the room, and for a long moment they all gazed at each other silently.

Then the Doctor deactivated himself, and B'Elanna, Kes and Neelix slowly made their way to their quarters.


	10. Chapter 10

"I only hope it was enough," Chakotay said as he re-entered his quarters. "They're probably getting off easier than they should."

Tuvok stood and crossed the room to his mate, taking him into his arms. Chakotay relaxed against him. "That remains to be seen," he breathed into Chakotay's ear, and gently nipped his earlobe.

"And I'm worried about Harry. I'm even worried about Tom Paris."

Tuvok trailed soft kisses down Chakotay's throat. "I will try to talk to them."

Chakotay sighed. "And we were supposed to be talking about us."

Tuvok raised his head and stared down into Chakotay's face. He raised one eyebrow. "I am attempting to, my mate."

Chakotay was dumbfounded, and then he burst into laughter.

"I see," he managed, amusement still bubbling out of him. At moments like these, he wondered why he still had some doubts about the bond with Tuvok. In a way, it seemed to him that from the moment Tuvok had finally told him about the bond, the Vulcan had been becoming increasingly comfortable with their relationship. Should he see that as reassuring?

Tuvok's lips were moving on his neck again, distracting him from his thoughts.

"Oh hang it," he said. "Let's go to bed."

"Ah," said Tuvok. "The perfect place for talking."

Chakotay laughed again, grabbed Tuvok's arm, and pulled him into his bedroom. Once there he quickly assisted Tuvok in the removal of his uniform, a task at which the Vulcan was strangely incompetent. In fact, Tuvok seemed far more interested in nibbling and kissing every inch of Chakotay's exposed skin. Of course, he didn't really mind that, Chakotay reflected, but the whole nibbling and kissing thing was going to be a lot easier if they were both naked.

Finally, the uniforms were off, and Chakotay had to agree with the Captain, Harry's pants were much more practical. In fact, the thought of Tuvok in those pants was rather an intriguing one and Chakotay was about to ask Tuvok to get the pattern out of the Holoprogram when his arm was nipped quite painfully.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

Tuvok gazed down at him impassively. "You are thinking too much."

"Yes, but only about good things," Chakotay assured him.

And for only the second time in his life he saw Tuvok smile, and again that smile did something to Chakotay. It reassured him, as no talk ever could, that if the bond exposed him, then Tuvok was just as prepared to reveal himself as well.

It also really turned him on.

Chakotay returned the smile with a heated kiss that slowly turned into a steady slide into mind-numbing desire. Tuvok's mouth moved against his luxuriously and languidly, drawing him into a state of craving that was intoxicating.

Reaching out and fumbling in the cabinet beside his bed, Tuvok's hand met his and placed in it the tube of lube Chakotay had been searching for, and he slicked up his fingers quickly.

"No," Tuvok's voice was like velvet in his ear, but the word registered, and Chakotay froze.

"Tuvok?"

"You will not need to stretch me."

"Oh" Odd that such simple words should have ignited fire in his veins, but they had, and breathlessly Chakotay spread some lube onto his cock. Tuvok lay beneath him, his lips tracing ecstasy on Chakotay's throat as Chakotay slowly pushed inside him.

Gods, it was so unbelievable, he'd never felt anything like it. Hot velvet gripped his cock, and for a long moment Chakotay just lay there, shuddering, as he fought for control. Tuvok's hands smoothed sensual patterns on his back and their lips met again, hungry and wet. Finally, Chakotay began to move, and Tuvok responded instantly, winding his long legs around Chakotay's waist, and his tongue thrusting into Chakotay's mouth.

The rhythm built from steady and strong to frantic and fevered. Sweat dripped between them slicking their bodies and Chakotay could feel Tuvok's hot erection sliding against his stomach. Reaching between them he grasped it strongly, and Tuvok moaned into his mouth. That moan was like a dam breaking for Chakotay, and he tore his mouth from Tuvok's and swore as his body throbbed with an intense orgasm. Even in the midst of it he still pumped Tuvok's cock, his hand matching his final hard thrusts into the Vulcan's body, and another moan heralded Tuvok's own release.

Exhausted Chakotay flopped onto his back and gasped for breath. He turned his head towards Tuvok and found that the Vulcan was watching him, one eyebrow raised.

"A most logical discussion."

Chakotay collapsed into laughter.

* * *

Harry Kim shifted restlessly on his bed, and closed his eyes. Deep down he knew it was hopeless; there was no way he was ever going to get any sleep. Scenes from that damned holoprogram played endlessly in his mind, creating constant surges of exhausting emotions. Fury and shame were the most powerful, but to Harry's increasing humiliation some of those scenes left him simmering with arousal.

It just wasn't fair, that after everything that had happened, he should still feel Tom's attraction. It was like a powerful magnet, pulling at him relentlessly, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it. He wondered what Tom was doing right at this moment.

"I don't _care_ what he's doing," he muttered to himself, angrily. That moment when he'd realized that Tom _knew_ they were on the holodeck had been probably the most bitter and painful of his life. He still didn't know how he was going to face Tom again after such a betrayal.

A part of him still couldn't believe that Tom had done it. They had been such friends; Harry had trusted him implicitly, believed in him when many others hadn't. How could Tom take such shameless advantage of that trust? Even if what B'Elanna had said was true and Tom hadn't known about the program at first, he'd still made the choice to use it when he did find out, and had even repaired it to stop Harry finding out. And God, maybe that hurt most of all! How Tom must have laughed to himself at Harry's naiveté.

The thought of B'Elanna brought towering rage yet again, and Harry flung the sheet off himself in frustration, leaping to his feet. He paced around the room trying vainly to calm down.

How he hated her for what she'd done to him. Yes, and the Doctor and Neelix too. Even Kes.

If only he could find a way to get revenge, and make them feel as much humiliation as he now felt.

* * *

Tom Paris contemplated getting drunk, but unfortunately he didn't have enough replicator rations for real alcohol.

He knew he'd made many stupid decisions in his life, and now he'd gone and made another one. Why on earth had he listened to B'Elanna and not told Harry they were on the holodeck? And now he was paying the highest price he'd ever had to pay for any of his mistakes. He'd lost Harry.

As soon as he'd heard the Captain's red alert, he'd known what would happen. There was no way he'd been able to hide his own knowledge of where they were, not without a delay that could have put Voyager at risk, and that was unthinkable. And as soon as Harry woke up enough to realize it, Tom had known their friendship would be over.

If only he'd had time to explain, and there was no stopping the thought, if only they'd had time to finish what they'd started. God, it had been so good, such a simple sexual experience, but one of the most erotic of his life. He was already growing hard again with the memory. Why did Harry suddenly have such an incredible affect on him? Sure, he'd always known the kid was attractive, all that golden skin, black shiny hair, and beautiful almond eyes, but he'd never seriously thought of a fling with Harry. He loved him too much for that.

_Loved._

Was that the reason he'd been feeling so jaded? Tom shook his head in frustration. It didn't matter now anyway, he'd lost the chance for anything with Harry.

If only he hadn't listened to B'Elanna and her trio of lunatics.

They'd hurt him and, worse than that, they'd hurt Harry. If only there was a to make them pay.

* * *

It was about one hour before the beginning of his shift that Harry's door chimed. He took another sip of his tea and swore when the hot beverage burnt his top lip. The door chimed again. Harry picked up a handy padd and began to scan it.

"Lieutenant Tuvok to Ensign Kim."

Harry hit his combadge. "Kim here."

"Is there a malfunction in your door, Ensign Kim?"

'Damn _,_ ' thought Harry. He'd assumed it was Tom. All the evening before and this morning he'd expected Tom to attempt to contact him, and he didn't know whether he was disappointed or relieved that the pilot had not done so.

"Come in, Lieutenant."

The door slid open and Lieutenant Tuvok walked calmly into the room.

"Ensign," he announced in greeting, and then stood silently, watching Harry.

"Uh, hello, Lieutenant," Harry responded doubtfully, after a moment. What on earth was the Vulcan doing, wandering into his quarters and staring at him like this. Slowly an idea began to dawn in Harry's mind, evolving into trepidation. Tuvok had been on the bridge yesterday. Was it possible that he was here to talk about what had happened?

Tuvok's next words confirmed Harry's fears. "You seem calmer today, Harry Kim."

"Do I?" Harry's anger, which had settled into a slow burn, now erupted forth again. "Well, I would be even more calm, if people on this ship would just keep out of my business!"

He glared at Tuvok resentfully, and the Vulcan returned his gaze with unwavering concentration. It made Harry feel like an insect caught under a lens and he shifted his feet uncomfortably. Then he remembered that Tuvok had also suffered at the hands of his so-called friends, and his frustration faded.

"I'm sorry, Tuvok," he said, "but I don't think I can talk about... what happened… with anyone."

"I understand," Tuvok replied, and Harry could have sworn that he could hear sympathy in the Vulcan's voice. "However, perhaps you should consider speaking with Lieutenant Paris."

"NO WAY!" Harry exploded.

"Look," he continued, after taking a deep breath. "I appreciate you coming here like this, but it's really not necessary. I won't let this interfere with my duties on the ship, so you have nothing to worry about."

Tuvok's eyebrow rose. "That is not the reason I am here, Ensign Kim. Strong emotions, left unchecked, are dangerous. It is only logical to try to resolve them as soon as possible."

"I really don't care about logic at the moment," Harry replied, through gritted teeth. "There are some things that can't be resolved. Tom… _used_ … me and I will _never_ forgive him for that."

"It is possible that Lieutenant Paris took advantage of the situation, rather than you." Tuvok suggested

Harry felt his face flame, and embarrassment almost overwhelmed him. Exactly how much did Tuvok know, he wondered. "That's a pretty fine distinction," he finally managed to reply.

"Nethertheless, there is a difference. You must consider the future, Harry. You have already completed many missions with Lieutenant Paris and it is only logical to presume that you will be required to do so again. You will certainly be under his command. It is possible that it is too soon for you to resolve the situation at this time, but I think you will find that you will have to eventually."

Harry desperately wanted to throw Tuvok out of his quarters, but he settled for glaring at him sullenly.

Tuvok seemed to study him for a moment and then he strode to the door.

"Think about what I have said, Ensign Kim. I will always be available if you wish to discuss this matter further."

"Over my dead body," Harry muttered to himself after the Vulcan had left.

* * *

It was as Harry made his way to the bridge, that Tom finally made the attempt he'd been waiting for. As he passed the doorway to an observation lounge, the door slid open and an arm reached out, grasped him firmly, and hauled him through the door.

"Let go of me!" Harry snarled, and immediately turned to leave, but Tom was already blocking the door.

"Harry, we have to talk."

"We don't have anything to talk about. Get out of my way."

Tom didn't move, and Harry backed into the room, glaring at him. Tom looked pale, and his blue eyes had an expression in them Harry didn't like. It made his heart beat twice as fast, but he steadied himself with hard determination.

"We _are_ going to talk."

"Okay," Harry agreed. "Say what you want, it's not going to change anything."

"Dammit, Harry," Tom said and the anger in his voice shook Harry. "Why do you have to be so… stubborn? Look, I can't tell you how sorry I am, I don't know what came over me…"

"Oh, don't you?" Harry interrupted sarcastically. "Well, I think I do."

"It wasn't like that," Tom said quickly, and then to Harry's fury he actually grinned. "Well, I mean it was, but not just like that."

Rage finally got the better of Harry. He could not believe that Tom could be so shameless as to treat the whole thing as a joke! A haze of red blinded him and he could feel his body trembling with tightly suppressed violence, which a second later he unleashed at Tom.

Unfortunately Tom seemed to be ready for it, and Harry found himself trapped in a tight circle of arms, and froze in shock. He felt Tom's lips brush his ear.

"Calm down," Tom whispered. "I'm sorry."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. It was tempting, too tempting, to stay exactly where he was and let Tom weave his magic spell all over again. And that would be madness, after Tom had shown him how little he could be trusted with Harry's feelings.

Tom's lips were now actually wandering down Harry's throat and Harry fought a hard battle, but pulled himself together. "Tom," he said firmly. "If you have any respect for me at all, please let me go."

He felt and heard Tom sigh, and then he was released.

"Okay." There was a something in Tom's voice that Harry had never heard before, a sort of cold flatness, and Harry risked glancing up into his face. Blue eyes met his that were filled with disappointment and pain.

Harry hardened his heart and strode out into the corridor.

"This isn't over yet, Harry." Tom's voice sounded determined and Harry's step faltered.

"Yes it is, Tom," Harry said, as he got into the turbolift.


	11. Chapter 11

It was Lieutenant Carey who reactivated the Doctor. The Lieutenant had slipped off a ladder in jeffries tube 42 and broken his thumb, and he'd made his way quickly and calmly to sickbay.

However, when the Doctor appeared, Lieutenant Carey dropped the medical tricorder he'd been holding, let out a loud yelp of sheer horror and bolted from the room.

The Doctor blinked in surprise. 'How rude,' he thought.

Still, he guessed Lieutenant Carey had come to sickbay for some reason, so he reached for his combadge to contact the fleeing Lieutenant.

It was at this point that the Doctor realized he was naked.

He looked down at himself in shock and then made another astonishing discovery. When Starfleet holoprogrammers had originally created the Emergency Holographic Doctors they had not thought it necessary to be entirely anatomically correct, and it had never bothered the Doctor that he had, in fact, no genitalia. But to his surprise, he had something now, and it did not remotely resemble the usual human male reproductive organs.

He was still trying to figure out what it actually was when Lieutenant Carey cautiously reentered the sickbay, followed by several other crewmembers.

"Computer, deactivate the EMH," the Doctor yelled, frantically.

Nothing happened, except that the Lieutenant and the other crewmembers, who had been staring at him in silent fascination, began to snicker and giggle.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" the Doctor roared, waving his arms at them, and then stopped in horror as the… thing… between his legs waved at them as well.

"Oh my goodness," burbled Megan Delaney. "It does seem pleased to see us."

Lieutenant Carey collapsed onto the floor, tears of laughter rolling down his cheeks, broken thumb forgotten, as the Doctor stood and watched him helplessly.

"Yes, but what do you think it is?" Susan Nicolletti asked. "I've never seen one like that before."

"Haven't you darling?" replied Megan, thoughtfully. "Well, of course, it's usually on the rear end, not the front."

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, and then glanced down at himself again. After B'Elanna had removed her squirrel curse from his program, he'd actually checked in the natural sciences database to find out what squirrels actually were, and he had a nasty sneaking suspicion that the thing currently waving at Megan Delaney so enthusiastically looked very much like a…

"Squirrel's tail," burst out Susan Nicolletti. "My god, it's a squirrels tail!"

* * *

Captain Janeway steadfastly avoided looking at the Doctor and focused her attention entirely on her Chief Engineer. Lieutenant Torres looked pale but her eyes also shone with what could only be described as gleeful delight. Then the doors of the sickbay slid open once more, and as Commander Chakotay strode into the room the Captain saw the light in B'Elanna's eyes fade.

She sensed the Comander halt a few feet away from them, and by his sudden frozen immobility Captain Janeway knew that he had spotted the Doctor. She glanced at his face, and saw the shock it turn into something she hadn't expected to see. Oh, the amusement was certainly there, but also a kind of cruel satisfaction that made him seem almost devilish.

Captain Janeway blinked, momentarily startled, but even as Chakotay's eyes met hers, the look was gone, replaced with his usual calm serenity.

A frustrated sigh reached her ears, and she turned back to her Chief Engineer. "Lieutenant?"

"I can't get into his program," B'Elanna replied. "I can't believe the lockouts on this. I… I've never seen anything like it."

"You can so!" The Doctor burst out.

The Captain raised a calming hand. "Doctor."

"Well, she can," he snarled. "She's fiddled with my program enough times to know what she's doing."

"Doctor," the Captain repeated, more firmly, and he subsided into sullen silence.

"Can you deactivate him?" she asked B'Elanna.

"Maybe," her Chief Engineer replied, and then frowned thoughtfully. "But I don't know if I'd be able to reactivate him."

"I don't care," the Doctor was practically hissing now. "I'm not going to spend another minute like this."

"That's hardly practical, Doctor," It was Chakotay who spoke, his voice calm and smooth, but the Captain could have sworn there was a certain malicious quality to it. "You are, after all, our only medical officer, and we may actually need you."

Definitely something behind those words, the Captain decided, and raised an eyebrow as she saw B'Elanna and the Doctor glance at each other furtively. They looked… guilty.

Really, what on earth was happening on her ship? And did she really want to know. Surprised at the weariness behind that thought as much as at the thought itself, she gazed at Commander Chakotay thoughtfully. He met her eyes, his expression questioning. Maybe it was time to find out just how much she could trust him.

Captain Janeway was tired. She'd known that as soon as Commander Chakotay had first suggested a shoreleave roster for the holodecks. She was sick of this boring area of space, even yesterday's brief attack hadn't shaken that boredom, and long range scanners only revealed another couple of months of more boredom.

And the stuff that was happening on the ship. Strange practical jokes involving, she shuddered slightly, squirrels. Relationships springing up all over the place, evidence that everyone else was settling into a way of life that she could not share. She was the Captain of a lost ship, but also the leader of a crew that was fast evolving into a community. She couldn't afford entanglements, but she also had to adjust.

Her eyes returned to the Doctor as he shifted behind the biobed he'd rather unsuccessfully been trying to hide behind, and she made an instant decision. She strode forward purposefully, tapped Chakotay on the shoulder and nodded at him to follow her into the Doctor's office.

"Captain?" Chakotay asked as soon as the door slid shut behind them.

"As Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim have completed their shoreleave early, I am taking my shoreleave immediately."

He looked surprised, but he nodded calmly.

"Your assignment while I'm away," she continued, "is to sort out all this… stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Chakotay," she smiled at him, well aware of the sarcasm in her voice. "I'm sure, even with your recent distractions, you've managed to notice a plague of practical jokes on this ship. Need I remind you of the holodeck chip sabotage a couple of weeks ago, not to mention the constant tinkering with the Doctor's program. I'm sick of it. I want it to stop before I get back from shoreleave. Get Tuvok onto it. He is the Chief of Security, remember?"

His face had steadily reddened as she had spoken, and his eyes glared into hers resentfully. She ignored it.

"And I want this dealt with according to Starfleet Regulations. Whoever is responsible, no matter what rank, will serve the required amount of time in the brig. Is that clear?"

Commander Chakotay frowned, but when he replied his voice was calm.

"Yes, Captain."

* * *

Even before he'd entered the conference room, Lieutenant Tuvok had known that his mate was frustrated and angry. The terse request to attend an immediate senior staff meeting had been his first clue, and the tense atmosphere as they'd walked to the room was the second. While they waited for the others to arrive Tuvok watched, as Chakotay paced the room, muttering about the Captain, and obviously striving to calm down. By the time the rest of the senior crew entered the room, the first officer was seated at the table, the picture of assured self-control. However, as the others took their seats at the table, the atmosphere definitely did not improve.

Lieutenant Torres, Kes and Neelix sat on one side of the table, still and silent, and none of them had yet lifted their eyes from their studied contemplations of the table. As Tuvok glanced across the table he realized that this was probably because Tom Paris and Harry Kim had not stopped glaring sullenly at the three of them since they had all sat down.

"Right," Chakotay's voice broke the stillness of the room like a gunshot and everybody at the table, except Tuvok, jumped slightly. "The Captain has gone on immediate shoreleave."

Finally, all eyes turned to the first officer, some in surprise, some in narrowed suspicion.

"While she's gone," Chakotay continued. "She wants all this crap sorted out."

Tuvok's eyebrow lifted. Chakotay's words were surprising; not because of their content, but because of the words he'd actually chosen. It was unlike the first officer to be quite so… informal… at an official meeting.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tuvok saw Harry Kim clench his fist tightly as it rested on the table. Tom Paris shifted in his chair. The silence hung heavily in the air however, and Tuvok heard Chakotay's soft sigh. He could sense his mate's disappointment, and realized, once more with surprise, that the first officer had been trying to provoke them.

Eventually the commander broke the silence. "Lieutenant Torres, give me a report on the doctor's situation."

"I'm still working on it," B'Elanna's voice was soft; in fact it was almost inaudible. "I'm unable to deactivate him, so I suggest that no one enter the sick bay unless it's for an absolute emergency."

"No," the Commander shook his head, and his smile was as serene as Tuvok had ever seen it. "I'm afraid I can't allow the usual routines of this ship to be disrupted when the crewmember in question is still capable of performing his duty."

A soft snigger came from the vicinity of Harry Kim, but it was ignored as B'Elanna, Neelix and Kes stared at Chakotay in dawning horror. It seemed, Tuvok reflected, that they had now fully realized the error of their ways. This was also, Tuvok further reflected, turning out to be the strangest command meeting he had ever attended.

"Well, Lieutenant Torres, let me know when you have a solution to the Doctor's problem, won't you?" The chief engineer shook herself and nodded at Chakotay, who smiled at her warmly.

"Now," he continued, as his eyes swept around the table. "It's fairly obvious to me that the person responsible for the Doctor's predicament is sitting at this table." B'Elanna's and Neelix's eyes finally turned in the direction of Tom and Harry, their expressions accusing. Kes, however, returned to her minute inspection of the tabletop. "So, I have only one thing further to say. When the person who performed this latest practical joke is caught, that person will be going to the brig. Understood?" The Commander rose to his feet without waiting for any sort of response. "Very well. Dismissed."

Tuvok rose to his feet and followed the others into the corridor. It was only as he resumed his station at the bridge, that he realized that Chakotay had only warned the culprit what the result of his crimes would be.

He hadn't actually ordered him to stop.

* * *

It was as the time for Tuvok's mid shift break was approaching that he received the security alert for the corridor outside the mess hall. He immediately assigned a team, and then informed the acting captain that he would attend the disturbance himself, but when Tuvok entered the turbolift he realized that Chakotay had followed him.

"Captain?" Tuvok raised an eyebrow in query.

Chakotay smiled at him, his eyes twinkling. "Just curious."

Tuvok's eyebrow rose even further. Chakotay looked fascinated.

"How _do_ you do that?"

Tuvok was spared answering as the turbolift doors opened and a corridor full of jostling and angry crewmembers immediately confronted him. The main crowd seemed to be gathered around the closed mess hall doors, and Tuvok pushed his way through until he reached his security team.

"What is going on here?" he calmly asked the leader of the team.

"Lieutenant Tuvok," the ensign sounded relieved to see him. "It appears that Neelix has locked everyone out of the mess hall."

"Now, why would he do that?" It was Chakotay who spoke, and Tuvok could tell from his voice that the acting captain was extremely amused. He had obviously completely recovered from whatever had angered him earlier and was now thoroughly enjoying himself. Tuvok sighed.

"Kes is in there too actually." It was Jenny Delaney who answered Chakotay and the smile on her face showed that she also was finding the situation entertaining. "There were only a few of us in for lunch with them. They both looked really strange. Sort of all hot and sweaty and flushed, and then all of a sudden Kes just stood up and screamed out "Neelix" and the next thing we knew he'd pushed us all out the doors and locked them. You could probably get through the lockout, but I… er… don't know if you should."

"Aren't there security cameras in there? Perhaps you should check that they're safe." The voice belonged to Tom Paris and Tuvok looked around and saw that the Lieutenant was standing behind him, and when he glanced further up the corridor he saw Harry Kim frowning at them.

"Good idea," Tuvok heard Chakotay agree as the acting captain strode over to the nearest com panel. He punched in a command code, an image flashed up on the screen and the whole corridor fell silent.

Neelix and Kes were writhing around on one of the tables in the mess hall, and it was very obvious what they were doing.

"Well, I'm never eating at that table again," someone said, setting off a chain reaction of muffled sniggers and snorts of laughter.

Tuvok reached up to the com panel and deactivated the camera. He frowned at Chakotay.

"I suggest we talk to the doctor," he said flatly. "There must be a reason for this strange behaviour."

Chakotay seemed to shake himself slightly and then nodded. "Of course." He glanced around the corridor. "The mess hall is temporarily closed," he announced in a raised voice. "It will reopen as soon as possible. In the meantime all replicator rations for this week are doubled."

The corridor slowly emptied and Chakotay and Tuvok swiftly made their way to the sick bay.

The Doctor was quite busy when they got there. It seemed that many crewmembers of Voyager had decided that today would be the best day to have their annual medical examinations. As Chakotay and Tuvok entered the room, the Doctor was standing behind a biobed, explaining in a loud and angry voice to Ensign Baytart that as he had only had his examinations two weeks previously he was not due to have them again for another 11 months. Ensign Baytart did not seem to comprehend this, in fact he did not even appear to be listening - his eyes focused with intent fascination on the top of a furry tail which could just be seen waving above the biobed.

The room emptied quickly once the crew members realized that the acting captain was in the sickbay, and the Doctor glared at Chakotay and Tuvok resentfully. However, he seemed fascinated when Tuvok explained the problem to him and he immediately performed a full scan on the occupants of the mess hall.

"Hmm, well they're safe enough," he said thoughtfully, when the scan was complete. "But I'm not sure it's safe to move them as they're fairly… um… active. They've taken… or been given… a huge dose of that Talaxian aphrodisiac that Kes gave… well… er… it should take about 24 hours to wear off. I'll continue to monitor them."

"Thank you, Doctor, keep me informed." Chakotay smiled brightly at the Doctor and swiftly left the sickbay.

Tuvok followed him, frowning thoughtfully.

"The Captain will not be pleased at this latest incident," he finally suggested delicately.

"No, but we have another three days to sort it out yet," Chakotay replied.

He sounded exceptionally cheerful.


	12. Chapter 12

Tom Paris sat on the couch in Harry Kim's darkened quarters patiently waiting. He wasn't entirely sure he'd done the wisest thing in breaking into Harry's home, but he had to be honest with himself, he couldn't think of anything else to do. All through this very strange day on Voyager, Harry had avoided him completely and it was that avoidance that had made Tom realize exactly how he felt about Harry.

For he'd missed Harry so thoroughly that it had felt like a black hole in his heart. Whenever he'd glimpsed Harry in the distance, or seen him on the bridge, he'd felt the newfound desire burning through his body but it had been utterly swamped by a kind of bittersweet yearning that Tom had never experienced before. He wanted Harry by his side again, smiling at his outrageous stories, laughing at his jokes, or just gazing at him earnestly as they talked about whatever had happened on the ship that day. And he wanted to be by Harry's side, hearing the sound of his voice, or seeing the flash of his eyes when something either annoyed or amused him. It seemed so unfair to Tom that he could lose all this, lose Harry, just when he'd realized how much more they could have together, because by the end of the shift he'd finally figured it out.

He was totally in love with Harry Kim.

Now, he just had to find a way of making Harry see it, because Tom had a sneaking suspicion that Harry just might be in love as well.

Tom stiffened in his seat as he heard movement in the corridor outside, and then finally the door swept open. In the dim light from outside, he saw Harry walk into the room and fling himself into the chair in front of his computer. The door closed and the room was dark once more.

Tom quietly got to his feet and stepped softly over to where Harry was still slumped in his chair. He gently touched Harry's shoulder.

"Harry…"

"AAAGGHHH!" Harry leapt to his feet, tripped over his chair and slammed into the wall. "Lights!" he yelled.

Tom blinked in the sudden brightness and focused on Harry, who had turned and was now glaring at him.

_"What the hell do you think you're doing?"_ he demanded furiously.

"Sorry…" Tom began, feeling rather foolish and reflecting that scaring Harry out of his wits was probably not the best way to start the conversation.

Harry was still glaring at him, his face now flushed red with fury and his eyes burning, but when he spoke Tom almost flinched at the hard flat tone of his voice.

"You really have a nerve Tom," he said, shaking his head. "After everything that's happened you still feel you have the right to _break_ into my quarters, don't you? Well, you don't. Now get out!"

"Look, Harry we really have to talk…" Tom faltered to a halt, startled at the odd fluttery feeling in his stomach. With a shock of surprise he realized that he was actually really nervous. He took a deep breath and tried to start again but Harry was already interrupting him.

"I told you before we have _nothing_ to talk about."

"I've got something to tell you…"

" _Get out of my quarters before I call security!_ "

Harry was practically snarling at him now, and the nervous flutters Tom had been feeling began to be replaced with his own anger. How could Harry be so impossibly stubborn?

Tom took two quick steps forward and before Harry could react he grasped him by the arms and shook him.

" _Will you just listen to me?_ I'm sorry about everything, and I'm trying to tell you…"

"LET GO OF ME!" Harry screamed, shoving Tom backwards. Tom staggered, regained his balance and stepped back. Harry turned away but not before Tom saw the emotion in his eyes… a mixture of fury, misery and fear that held Tom silent as Harry paced the room.

"I'm trying to tell you how I feel," he finally said, softly.

"Do you want to know how I feel?" Harry flung back at him, still pacing.

"Well, yes, actually I do."

"Fine." Harry came to a halt and turned to face Tom, his face rigid with tension. "How does completely humiliated sound? Or totally stupid? How do you think it feels to know that all of your friends see you as some sort of joke? What can we do today? Oh, I know let's make an absolute fool of Harry Kim!"

"Harry, listen to me, it wasn't like that. Don't you realize I'm as angry with them as you are? They think they were trying to help us somehow, but really all they did was hurt us both, and I stupidly listened to them and ended up hurting you as well…" Tom stopped talking as he watched Harry start pacing the room again. He wondered if Harry had heard anything he'd said, he seemed to be so caught up in his own anger and pain that he was oblivious to anything else. Instinctively Tom knew that if he told Harry how he felt now, Harry would never believe him.

Still he had to get through to him somehow.

Tom moved forward and grabbed Harry's arm swinging him around into a tight embrace. Then he lifted one hand to Harry's chin, forced his face up and pressed his lips against Harry's shocked mouth.

Harry made a furious, strangled sound in his throat and then froze. Tom pulled him in even closer, and pushed his tongue against Harry's lips, forcing his way into his mouth. He felt Harry trembling against him and immediately softened the pressure of the kiss, sliding his lips gently against Harry's. It felt so unbelievably good to be kissing Harry again, and Tom realized he was starting to lose his head. Knowing he didn't want to push Harry too far, Tom pulled away with one last gentle caress. Harry gazed up at him, his eyes dark and wide with surprise and confusion.

"Okay, so I made a mistake on the holodeck, and I'm truly sorry for it." Tom told him firmly. "But I don't regret wanting you, and I know you wanted me as well, Harry. So think about this, what would you have done if you'd been the one to realize where we were?"

He saw and heard Harry's stunned gasp, and for a moment they gazed at each other in silence. Then Tom turned, swiftly left the room and made his way to his own quarters.

* * *

Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres woke with a start, abruptly leapt off the rock she was lying on, tripped over and fell flat on her face in the sand.

After a moment, she realized there was something odd about that and raised her head to look around suspiciously.

" _Dammit,_ " she swore.

She'd meant to stay awake. All day she'd been uncomfortably anxious, after what had happened to the Doctor, and then Kes and Neelix, she'd known that eventually it would be her turn, but she'd thought if she only stayed alert long enough, she just might make it through unscathed.

So she'd tried to stay awake all night on the couch in her quarters, but after all the stress with that damned holoprogram she'd already been exhausted and had apparently fallen asleep.

So, now here she was, obviously in the holodeck, on some sort of beach, and she knew without looking, completely naked.

Something made a noise down on the beach, and B'Elanna swiftly rose to her hands and knees and scrambled behind the rock. After a moment she peeped around it.

" _Dammit,_ " she swore again.

Captain Kathryn Janeway was just emerging from a tent further down the sand. She was dressed in a swimsuit, her hair was loose and she looked very relaxed. Somehow B'Elanna knew that the captain wouldn't be quite so relaxed if she spotted her naked chief engineer cowering behind a rock, so she began to shuffle backwards into the nearby bushes.

Once out of sight of the beach, B'Elanna got up and ran for it. She knew it was kind of a dumb thing to do, but she felt desperate to get some sort of distance from the captain. Of course, if the captain decided to end the program B'Elanna knew she was totally screwed.

After a couple of minutes of running, B'Elanna stopped and leaned against a tree, panting slightly.

"Computer, exit, _exit_ , **_exit_** ," she whispered, in increasing frustration. Of course, she hadn't really expected it to work, but that didn't stop her annoyance and increasing panic.

"Computer, transport me to my quarters immediately." Well, she hadn't expected that to work either.

All right, she could swallow her pride if she had too. "Torres to Paris. I know you can hear me Tom. Okay, you've had your joke, now get me out of here… please."

Nothing but silence. Dammit. B'Elanna took a deep breath. "Torres to Kim. Harry, you know I'm so sorry about what happened, and I'll do anything, absolutely anything, if you just please let me out of here."

Who knew that Harry Kim could be so hard hearted, B'Elanna thought after a long moment of silence.

"Hmm. Property of Kathryn Janeway. Well, I'm flattered."

"Eeeeep!" B'Elanna jumped, turned around, jumped again, and hid behind the tree trunk. Captain Janeway was standing, hands on hips, gazing at B'Elanna with one eyebrow raised.

"Eeep? Is that all you have to say?"

B'Elanna could feel her face burning with pure embarrassment, not only had the Captain somehow crept up on a half-klingon, but she had also startled that half-klingon out of her wits.

"I didn't know you had a tattoo, B'Elanna."

"Wha…" B'Elanna frowned in confusion.

"I do appreciate loyalty in my crew, of course," the Captain was continuing. "But I don't know that I require such total devotion."

"Tattoo?" B'Elanna managed to blurt out.

Captain Janeway sighed. "Yes, well, given the current state of my ship, you may not be aware of it. You have a tattoo, B'Elanna, on your… ah… rear. It reads 'Property of Kathryn Janeway'."

"Oh, god." B'Elanna turned her head, trying to see over her shoulder, and closed her eyes in frustration when she saw the very large black letters.

"Just be thankful it isn't anything about squirrels," said the Captain, rolling her eyes. "I imagine you don't know how you got here. I also imagine that Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Tuvok don't know how you got here either, and they damn well should. Of course, if they did, I suppose you wouldn't be here." She blinked. "Well, I _don't_ want to know. I'm on shoreleave."

B'Elanna was still staring at the Captain speechlessly when the Captain hit the combadge she had pinned to her swimming costume.

"Captain Janeway to Commander Chakotay. You may not be aware of this Commander, but Lieutenant Torres is on the holodeck with me. Would you please transport her off immediately."

There was a short silence and then Chakotay replied. "Yes, Captain, of course."

B'Elanna closed her eyes with relief as she heard the hum of the transporter. Considering the fact that the Doctor was not yet fixed, and that Kes and Neelix were still locked in the mess hall, she'd come out of the whole thing quite well. In fact, if the captain kept her mouth shut, it was quite probable that no one else would ever know about the whole incident.

The hum of the transporter faded and B'Elanna opened her eyes… and met several other pairs of eyes directed towards her in bewilderment. She looked around feeling strangely resigned, she could feel that she was still naked and she was pretty damned certain that she still had a tattoo on her rear.

That bastard on ops, that so called sweet and innocent Harry Kim, had transported her to engineering.

* * *

Until the Captain had commed him from the holodeck, Commander Chakotay had been thoroughly enjoying himself. The previous day had been very entertaining and after that he'd spent a very enjoyable evening with Tuvok not talking about their bond. Even the atmosphere on the bridge was better today. True, Tom Paris still seemed tense, and Harry Kim had turned up on the bridge with a stricken look in his eyes, which Chakotay didn't really like, but all in all, he had been feeling, well, cheerful.

However, his conversation with the Captain, after B'Elanna had been transported from the holodeck, had changed all that. She hadn't been happy. In fact, she'd been rather cross, and Chakotay knew that the time had come to stop the 'practical jokes' on Voyager once and for all.

With that in mind, he'd wandered up to Lieutenant Tuvok's security station and asked for his latest report.

"There are indications that it could be either Lieutenant Paris or Ensign Kim. Ensign Kim has had access to the Doctor's program many times, and I have ascertained that Lieutenant Paris knew where the Talaxian aphrodisiac was to be found in Neelix's quarters. Of course, he could have told Ensign Kim about that earlier."

"It seems unfair that they should be the ones who could end up in the brig," Chakotay sighed.

"We have our orders, Chakotay," Tuvok replied, quietly. He looked down at his panel and frowned. "I have just finished running a diagnostic on the transporter logs. They have been tampered with earlier today, from the terminal in the quarters of…"

"HARRY KIM!"

B'Elanna's voice screeched through the bridge, followed by several clatters and curses as various startled crewmembers dropped padds and tricorders on the floor. Chakotay whirled around to be confronted with his red faced chief engineer, wearing a half-fastened uniform and no boots, waving her arms threateningly at an astonished looking Ensign Kim.

"Lieutenant Torres," Chakotay strode forward and grabbed one of her arms, hauling her back. "What do you mean by arriving on the bridge in such a manner?"

B'Elanna wrenched her arm out of his grasp and pointed at Harry, who was now smiling in a way that Chakotay could only describe as smug.

"He… he…" she spluttered furiously.

"B'Elanna." It was one word, but the warning in Chakotay's voice calmed her down immediately.

"I can't get it off," she finally said, quietly.

"What?" Chakotay could feel Tuvok move closer behind him and out of the corner of his eye he saw Tom Paris leave the helm and walk towards them.

"The tattoo," she said even more softly. " _He_ somehow put it there and now it won't come off."

Chakotay blinked. "Are you accusing Ensign Kim of…?"

"Of course I am," she interrupted, and then she frowned. "Well it could have been Tom, but Harry's the one that transported me to engineering."

"Of course I did," Harry Kim sneered. "I'm supposed to, remember? I'm on ops, it's my job."

"Yes, but you knew how I was... _wasn't_... dressed," she hissed back at him. "Of course I just bet you're the one who transported me to the holodeck in the first place."

"Silence." Chakotay spoke just as Harry opened his mouth to retort. "Tuvok, who tampered with the transporter logs? You were just about to tell me."

"Yes," Tuvok's calm voice was a welcome relief. "The logs were tampered with at the terminal in Harry Kim's quarters."

" _What?_ " Harry's face flushed, whether in embarrassment or anger Chakotay could not tell. "I didn't do anything to the logs, and if I did I wouldn't be stupid enough to use my own terminal."

"The evidence suggests that you are responsible for the incidents of the past 24 hours." Tuvok stated.

" _I am not._ "

"I told you," B'Elanna crowed triumphantly and was swiftly quelled by a severe look from Chakotay.

"Well, Harry, I'm sorry but I've got no choice." Chakotay nodded at Tuvok. "You'd better get someone to escort him to the brig."

"Now just hold on," Harry was now definitely looking furious. "I had nothing to do with this."

"He's right. I'm the one who did all of it."

Everyone turned to look at Tom Paris, who had until this moment been standing quietly beside Tuvok. He looked both calm and determined and Chakotay began to get a strong feeling that he was going to end the day with an almighty headache.

"Lieutenant Paris, there is no evidence to suggest that you are involved."

"Well, of course, there isn't Tuvok," Tom directed his most patronising smile at the Vulcan, and Chakotay watched as Tuvok's eyebrow rose.

"Lieutenant Paris, I have just verified that there is no way you could have interfered with the Doctor's program. At the time that the changes were made, you were in a flight team meeting."

"Oh," Tom frowned, and then quickly smiled again. "Well, I did do the other stuff, and I bet you can't say that I didn't."

"Well, I can," Harry Kim was now glaring suspiciously at Tom with narrowed eyes. "I'm _sick_ of you always trying to protect me. Okay then, I reprogrammed the Doctor, and everything else as well."

"You did not."

"Well, you didn't either."

Chakotay sighed, and held up a hand. "Enough. Tuvok?"

"They have both confessed. Therefore they should both go to the brig."

"Ha!" B'Elanna snorted.

"Aren't you supposed to be in engineering?" Chakotay asked, and then watched as she stomped off the bridge. He looked at Tom's determined face and Harry's stubborn one, and then gazed thoughtfully at Tuvok for a moment.

"Shared cell then?"

Tuvok nodded.

" _Hey!_ " Harry spluttered. Tom merely looked even more determined.

Chakotay waved a hand. "Off you go then."

He returned to his seat, as Tuvok escorted two of his senior officers to the brig. Really, he was feeling quite cheerful again.


	13. Chapter 13

All the way to the brig, Harry Kim muttered to himself in frustration. He still wasn't entirely sure how it had happened but he had an uncomfortable feeling that he only had himself to blame for the fact that he was now going to spend the next few hours sharing a cell with Tom Paris.

He could feel Tom striding beside him as they both followed Lieutenant Tuvok, and he risked a swift glance in his direction. Tom's face was set and calm. Harry swore quietly to himself.

They reached the brig and Tuvok escorted them to a cell, activating the force field behind them. Harry watched as the Vulcan spoke briefly to the security officer on duty and then narrowed his eyes in suspicion as they both left the holding area and disappeared into the corridor.

"What on Earth?" The surprise in Tom's voice was obvious. "That's totally against regulations."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment in frustration. It seemed everyone on this damned ship was conspiring against him. "He wants us to sort things out," he blurted.

Tom frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

Suddenly, Harry realised just how close to Tom he was standing and he strode swiftly to the farthest point of the room and stood, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed defensively across his body. His anger, which had died to a constant simmer, now rose boiling inside him yet again.

"He came to see me yesterday," he hissed through gritted teeth. "I expected a Vulcan to be able to mind his business, but he's just like everyone else on this ship."

Tom drifted slightly closer and Harry's body stiffened.

"He's right though," Tom's voice was quiet, and the most tentative that Harry had ever heard it. "And perhaps he, just like many others on this ship, just cares about you."

That was too much. "Oh, just … _Shut. Up._ " Harry snarled. "Don't think for a minute that you and I are going to talk in here. Why didn't you just keep your mouth shut? You always think you're protecting me, but I'm telling you now Tom, I don't need your brand of protection!"

Tom's blue eyes flashed in anger, and Harry felt a secret satisfaction. If he could just keep Tom angry enough then maybe he wouldn't keep looking at Harry with that strangely tender expression that was making him feel so uncomfortable.

"Jeez, Harry," Tom's voice was tight with frustration. "What do I have to do here? So, I got a little carried away by the situation. Well, here's a newsflash for you, so did you." His blue eyes narrowed and Harry knew he'd seen his slight flinch as the words struck home. "I bet that's what you really can't stand about this. Perfect Harry Kim finally succumbed to emotion."

For a moment, Harry struggled blindly with his own fury, gasping for breath. " _How dare you!_ " he finally managed. "You're the one who betrayed me, remember. _I trusted you!"_

Tom stared at him, and then Harry's anger was swamped by complete shock, as he heard Tom give a brief snort of laughter.

"You never trusted me, Harry."

Harry's jaw dropped in speechless horror; not only at the accusation but also at the dull disappointment he could hear in Tom's voice. He watched, mind-numbed, as Tom paced before him in the small space of the cell. Finally, he took a deep breath and found his voice.

"What do you mean?" He could hear the quiver in his voice and swallowed heavily. Tom's accusation had shaken him more than he could have thought possible, and a small dart of pain in his heart told him that it was because it just might be true.

Tom had stopped his pacing, and now stood watching him intently, his eyes expressionless.

"You're the one who just wanted a quick fuck in the holodeck, remember?" Tom raised his hand as Harry opened his mouth with a quick response. "Yeah, I know," he continued. "You figured that was all I'd want. You didn't trust me, Harry, you didn't trust that I wouldn't use someone I love."

Harry frowned in confusion. "How could I… all those people you've…" He knew he was spluttering, but he just couldn't get his thoughts together. How had Tom done this? How had he turned all of Harry's anger into a strange sense of shame?

Tom sighed. "Yeah, I know. But think about it Harry. Did I ever have a relationship with those people beyond the sex? They knew it was about mutual satisfaction, just as much as I did. I never lied to them, and if any of them had ever developed feelings which I couldn't return, then I would have ended it with them, just as they would have with me, if the case were reversed."

"Tom, I…" Harry faltered to a halt, realising he didn't actually know what he was going to say. Tom's blue eyes bored into his as the pilot moved closer. Harry tried to move away but started with surprise when Tom's hand closed around his arm.

"Do you think I really would've used you like that, Harry? You've been the best friend I could ever…" He broke off, and Harry could see the struggle to control his emotions, in his darkened eyes. His own eyes widened. "It may have taken me a while to realise it, Harry Kim, but I have, finally. I'm in love with you."

The words shook Harry to his very core. The lack of flippancy in Tom's quiet voice, the seriousness in his eyes, the tentative pressure of his hand on Harry's arm, all of these made a vivid impression in his mind and heart that emphasised the words he'd just heard as if they'd been shouted in his ear. For a long, frozen, moment, he simply stared into Tom's face watching the expression of concern slowly dawning there. He felt Tom's fingers tighten on his arm.

"Uh… Harry, are you all right?"

"I'm not sure," his voice sounded breathless, even to his own ears. "Perhaps I should sit down. I need to think."

Tom led him over to the bench, and he sank onto it gratefully, as Tom hovered over him anxiously.

Harry waved an irritated hand to the seat beside him. "Oh, for God's sake, sit down Tom."

Tom instantly obeyed, the heat of his body warming Harry's side, distracting and disturbing. Perversely, Harry sprang to his feet again and began to pace the small area.

"How is it you always do this to me, Tom Paris," he muttered. "Always sweeping the rug out from under my feet." He stopped pacing and frowned at Tom, who was watching him worriedly. "And I always let you do it. The question is… do I let you this time?"

Tom looked at him hopefully, and Harry felt a small smile working it's way from his heart to his lips. "You're shameless, you know that, don't you?"

Tom winked at him, and Harry couldn't help himself, he laughed, causing Tom to rise swiftly to his feet.

"Hang on," Harry held up a warning hand. He sighed, feeling the confusion welling up inside again. "Tom," his voice dropped to a whisper. "I can't tell you how humiliated I felt."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Harry shook his head, and sighed. "I've realized that it wasn't really your fault."

"I'm still sorry."

"Thanks," he smiled, briefly. "I guess I should feel flattered by the spectacular style of your revenge, and…" he broke off at the puzzled look on Tom's face.

"Uh… Harry, I wish I could really claim responsibility, but I actually thought it was you."

Harry blinked. "Oh."

"So, it wasn't you?" Tom frowned thoughtfully.

"No. Who is it then?"

"I don't know," Tom's smile was gentle. "And to be honest I don't really care at the moment. Harry, a few minute's ago, I made a rather difficult confession, one that I've never actually made before. I'd kinda like to know how you feel about that?"

And, to Harry's complete annoyance he felt his cheeks redden, and then burn even hotter as Tom's smile widened.

He took a swift step away from the friend who had always been disturbing, but now seemed downright dangerous to his peace of mind.

"You said that I didn't trust you, Tom," Harry said seriously. "That was a shock to me, but I have to confess, you may have… no, you were right. In many ways I do, but in this way… it may take me time to… " He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Harry, Harry," Tom's hand was on his arm again, gently pulling him into the circle of Tom's arms. Harry felt his body stiffen and tried to relax. "This doesn't have to be so difficult. We have all the time it takes to get used to this, if you want to give it a chance."

"You've slept with half the people on this ship," Harry accused, surprised at his own resentment.

Tom closed his eyes for a moment. "Yes, I have," he agreed. "But I haven't slept with the other half. And I certainly haven't felt about any of them the way I feel about you. I'm quite happy to keep reassuring you of that for as long as it takes."

Harry narrowed his eyes. "It might take a long time."

"Maybe not as long as you think."

Harry sighed and closed his eyes, finally allowing himself to relax against Tom's body. His friend was solid, supportively strong and Harry could feel Tom's heart thumping steadily against his own chest. He felt the slightest suggestion of soft lips whisper against his forehead and shivered. The truth was, he knew, that Tom had him wrapped around his little finger – he could do pretty much whatever he wanted with Harry, and Harry would let him because he quite simply…

"Oh, all right," Harry muttered against Tom's shoulder. "I admit it, I love you too."

Immediately a hand under his chin pressed his face upwards and hot lips descended upon his own. The kiss was hard but tender, a paradox that seemed to reflect Harry's feelings. Tom's lips moved firmly against his own seeking, rather than demanding, a response, and Harry realized that still the choice was his. In the end, it didn't seem so hard to melt against Tom's mouth and open himself up to the flood of emotions welling up inside him.

When the kiss finally ended, Harry could feel Tom shaking as he laid his cheek against Harry's. "Thank you," Tom breathed into his ear. Harry smiled to himself. It seemed that perhaps Tom wasn't always so sure of himself as he seemed.

He'd have to remember that.

* * *

A few minutes later Tuvok entered the brig and released them from the cell.

"That didn't take very long," Tom told him, with a sarcastic twist to his lips. "I thought we'd been found guilty and sentenced. Aren't we supposed to be here for a couple of days yet?"

"I have found new evidence, which clears both your names," Tuvok replied blandly. "I must tell you that I find your decision to waste my time with false confessions most regrettable. I will make a full report to the acting Captain."

"Right," Tom eyed the Vulcan with amusement. "Well, I guess I owe you one."

"No, Mr. Paris, you do not. All debts are paid."

Tom had been about to leave the brig, but he turned and stared, with wide eyes, at Tuvok. The Vulcan met his astonished look with a raised eyebrow. After a moment, Tom smiled slightly and nodded his head, and then he took Harry's hand and pulled him out into the corridor, the doors closing behind them.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked.

"I'll tell you later," Tom replied with another secret smile. "Now, want to come to my quarters for a while?"

"Um…" Harry felt his cheeks burn and forced down a sigh of exasperation. When would he ever stop blushing? "Okay."

Within a few moments Harry was seated on Tom's couch, chilled glass of wine in his hand. Tom sat beside him, watching him carefully.

"What?" Harry asked. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not going to break you know."

Spontaneous laughter burst from Tom's lips. "Sorry," he said. "After the last few days, I just can't quite believe that we're here."

"I know what you mean," Harry agreed, dryly. He leaned forward and placed his glass on the table. "Look, Tom, I have to tell you… I think I need this to go slowly."

Tom slid closer to him. "You mean you don't want to jump into bed with me?" He asked, and Harry could hear the teasing note in his voice, and shivered. He looked up at Tom, meeting his sparkling eyes with a mischievous look of his own.

"Actually I do," he replied. "I mean I'm only human right?" He grinned, enjoying the shock on Tom's face. "But I don't want you to overwhelm me, okay. I'm going to need time, to myself, to think about things."

Tom's face had softened into seriousness. "I understand Harry. This is all kinda new to me too and I feel the same way myself."

"Good," Harry knew the relief he could see in Tom was mirrored in his own eyes.

"So, about this jumping into bed thing then…"

Harry's breath caught in his throat as Tom's hand drifted around his throat to rest heavily against the back of his head. "Yeah?" His voice cracked.

Tom slid even closer. "You and I once started something." He breathed against Harry's lips. "Why don't we finish it?"

Harry could only nod, his eyes drifting closed as Tom's lips took his in a deep kiss. Instant heat pooled in Harry's groin when he felt the slide of Tom's tongue against his own. Tom's body pressed against his and Harry found himself running his hands down Tom's side, searching for skin and groaning when he found only the heavy fabric of a Starfleet uniform.  
Tom lifted his head and gazed down at Harry for a moment, his eyes dark.

"We have to get out of these clothes, Harry."

Harry nodded and tried to move, but in the end all he could do was lie there lethargically as Tom tugged and pulled at his clothes, and finally got them both naked. His eyes grazed the length of Tom's body and he felt himself blush hotly as he saw the reddish cock straining towards him. Then Tom's mouth was on his again, and Harry gasped against Tom's lips when he felt Tom's body, hot skin almost burning into his own.

Tom was moving restlessly against him, searching for friction, and Harry parted his legs slightly, pushing up at the heavy weight above him.

"Ah, yes," Tom murmured against his mouth. "We'll do it like that, okay?"

"Mmmm," Harry agreed, thrusting his tongue into Tom's mouth, as he thrust his body upward. Then Tom was pushing down into him, his cock pressing against Harry's, and Harry could not believe how amazing it felt.

After that, they rocked against each other, forcing each new burst of incredible pleasure, gasping for air, and gripping each other tightly as the pressure tightened and tightened. Finally, Harry did not think he would be able to stand much more, his body was straining on a precipice so high, but then Tom gave one more violent thrust against him and at the feeling of wet warmth spreading around his cock, Harry exploded into an orgasm so powerful that he forgot to breathe. Just as the darkness gathered around his eyes, Tom shifted against him, and Harry sucked in a great, shuddering lungful of air. When he finally regained enough control to open his eyes, Tom was looking down at him, a rueful look in his blue eyes.

"Harry," there was a breathless quality to Tom's voice, which Harry decided he really liked. "If we keep doing this, I may not survive."

For a moment Harry blinked at him, and then laughter bubbled up in him and he discovered how difficult it was to laugh with someone lying on top of him.

"Neither of us will," he wheezed, and then pulled Tom's head down for a long, luxurious kiss.

* * *

Chakotay silently paced his quarters waiting for Tuvok to arrive. It had been a strange day and he wasn't entirely sure how it was going to end. He knew he had been avoiding the issue of his bond with the Vulcan, and now he felt that slight sense of urgency he always felt when he knew that the time had come to deal with something.

The only problem was, he still didn't know exactly what he was going to say. Chakotay knew that at first, Tuvok had been as cautious about the bond as he was himself, but it seemed that in the last couple of days the Vulcan had made some sort of inner decision, and it was fairly obvious to Chakotay that Tuvok was now comfortable with their situation, and Chakotay finally wanted to know why.

Of course, the problem remained, how did he himself feel? Chakotay was self aware enough to realize that Tuvok would be able to fulfil his… needs… beyond anything he had dreamed possible. But did he really want them fulfilled? Chakotay thought back over the time they had made love on the holodeck, and trembled slightly with uncoiling desire. The issue, he decided was about trust. Did he trust Tuvok, and did he trust himself? He remembered how he'd felt in Tuvok's arms, then and at other times. Even with the superior strength he could sense in Tuvok's body, Chakotay had always felt safe and secure. He shivered again, as he realized that he'd also felt… possessed, and he'd needed to feel that at every level. He hadn't really lost control of himself, he'd just let himself hand that control over to Tuvok and trusted that the Vulcan would not take things too far. And Tuvok hadn't.

So it seemed his questions were answered, but one more remained. If they continued with their relationship and Tuvok went into the Pon Farr, would Chakotay really want to end up in a life bond with the Vulcan? Tuvok had said that all bonds could be broken, but Chakotay instinctively sensed that the process of breaking a life bond, particularly at such close quarters to each other, would be a long and painful process. Was it worth the risk?

The door to his quarters slid open and the object of his thoughts entered Chakotay's quarters and stood watching Chakotay thoughtfully.

"You have been thinking."

Chakotay smiled at the quiet statement. "I tend to do that," he replied.

Tuvok nodded, and waited.

"Very well," Chakotay continued. "I need to ask you something."

Tuvok nodded, and waited.

Chakotay firmly squashed his rising irritation and took a deep breath. "I have sensed that you have accepted this…" he waved his hand futilely in the air, strangely reluctantly to find the words he needed, "… situation…"

"The bond," Tuvok's voice was calm and firm. "Yes, I have accepted the bond, and you wish me to explain why. I will try to do this." He paused for a moment, deep in thought. "My bond with T'Pel was strong and as sure as the rocks and sands of Vulcan. It was safe. I believe there are some Vulcans that do not require complete safety. These are the Vulcans who explore the worlds around them, take risks, perhaps even join Starfleet. It is obvious that I am one of these."

The Vulcan approached Chakotay and reached up to rest a warm hand against Chakotay's throat.

"Some of these choose also to bond with humans, and until I bonded with you I had never really considered why. Humans are full of paradoxes, they strive for peace but are full of passion, desire courage but often feel fear. They can be puzzling…and powerful, and always fascinating." He paused for a moment and Chakotay saw the Vulcan's eyes searching his face and wondered if his own sudden fear was visible there. In the next moment he was answered.

"To be the calm eye in the storm of emotion is intoxicating for many Vulcan's and I am one of them," Tuvok's voice was almost a whisper, "but this does not mean that I could bond with any human, my mate. It must be the _right_ human. You _are_ the right human."

"How can you be so sure?" Chakotay murmured through the sudden obstruction in his throat.

"Simply because the bond exists."

Chakotay blinked. " _What?_ "

"Think about it, Chakotay, though I must confess that it took me a long time to see it myself. There is always a choice with bonds. How could either of us have allowed this bond to form, if neither of us had wanted it?"

Could it really be as easy as that? Chakotay frowned, perplexed. "That's so… practical," he faltered, and then a smile dawned on his face as understanding came to him. "But strangely romantic."

"Romantic." Tuvok's eyebrow had risen and his voice was flat.

"Very romantic," Chakotay could feel the laughter bubbling up inside him, and knew that it wasn't just the words that had caused it. He felt so extraordinarily happy that it was almost frightening. "My Vulcan, the romantic," he gushed.

Tuvok's eyebrow had now risen impossibly higher. " _Your_ Vulcan?"

Chakotay sensed the wealth of meaning behind the question and his laughter died. "My Vulcan," he stated, raising his hand to Tuvok's face.

"Ah, in that case, I will continue to be romantic," Tuvok responded in the driest voice Chakotay had ever heard in his life.

He collapsed in hysterics, while his Vulcan watched him patiently.

Eventually Tuvok handed him a regulation handkerchief, and Chakotay dried his streaming eyes. He knew that his hysterics had been more than simple amusement; they had been a mixture of relief and release of fear as well. He also knew that Tuvok understood this.

Now he felt calm and relaxed, happy, definitely contented, and ready for anything. As if sensing this, Tuvok spoke.

"I have released Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim from the brig."

"Oh?" Chakotay queried.

"They were not responsible for the incidents of the past few days."

"Oh?" Chakotay repeated. "Who was?"

Tuvok gazed at him passively as an uncomfortable suspicion began to rise in Chakotay.

"You can't possibly think it was _me_?" He spluttered in astonishment.

For a moment Chakotay was sure that Tuvok was surprised, but the Vulcan only continued to gaze at him, his expression calm.

"Oh spirits," Chakotay breathed. "I don't believe it. It was _you_."

Tuvok inclined his head.

For a long minute Chakotay was speechless with amazement. When he could finally think again he noted, with a slight sense of shame, that instead of the anger and disappointment he suspected he should be feeling, all he really wanted to do was collapse once more into hysterical laughter. This day of strangeness was only getting stranger.

"What on _earth_ possessed you?" he finally managed to gasp out.

"I felt that I was partially responsible for the situation by having counselled you to delay in dealing with Lieutenant Torres, the Doctor, Kes and Neelix. I also felt a debt towards Lieutenant Paris, for without his involvement it is possible that I would never have approached you regarding our bonding."

" _Tom Paris?_ " Chakotay was startled.

"The Lieutenant was, of course, unaware of his participation in our relationship," Tuvok assured him, quickly.

"I'm glad to hear it." Chakotay's eyes narrowed in sudden realization. "Those weren't the main reasons though, were they?"

Tuvok gazed at him in seeming blankness but Chakotay wasn't fooled.

"You wanted to get even." Chakotay stated firmly.

"Commander Chakotay, I assure you that a Vulcan would never…"

"Oh shut it," Chakotay interrupted, waving a hand and Tuvok wisely fell silent.

"Well, I'm shocked," Chakotay mused. "And of course, you do know that I'm going to have to send you to the brig, don't you?"

"I have placed myself in your hands, Commander Chakotay."

Chakotay snorted.

"I could offer an alternative suggestion however."

"Yes?"

"Perhaps you may feel that it would be more appropriate to personally supervise my incarceration, at some later date, at a more appropriate location, for example, the holodeck."

"That's an interesting suggestion, Lieutenant Tuvok," Chakotay replied seriously. "I will certainly take it under advisement."

"Perhaps I should also mention that I have recently acquired a very intriguing holographic program incorporating an extremely interesting culture with some very unique customs."

Chakotay could feel a slow burn beginning to flush his cheeks. He cleared his throat. "Oh?"

Tuvok stepped closer and leaned over, his lips hovering over Chakotay's. "I know how to replicate those pants, my mate," he murmured. "I am certain that you will find them a most comfortable fit."

Chakotay shivered.


	14. Epilogue

Captain Janeway sat back in her chair and gazed around her bridge with great satisfaction. Even with B'Elanna's brief interruption she had really enjoyed her shore leave. She felt calm and relaxed and ready for anything.

And it certainly helped that the behaviour on Voyager seemed to have settled down. Kes, Neelix, the Doctor, and definitely B'Elanna were all very subdued, but she found she rather liked that. It was… restful.

There was no more mention of squirrels, no strange jokes, and everybody else seemed calm and relaxed as well, particularly Tom Paris and Harry Kim. Captain Janeway was certainly glad of that, she'd always had a bit of a soft spot for Tom Paris she had to admit, and also a sort of motherly concern for Harry Kim.

Commander Chakotay had definitely done a good job of sorting out things while she was gone, she decided, and while it was true that he had never actually caught the person responsible for the strange events on Voyager, he had assured her the problem was solved, and she'd felt thoroughly confident in his assurances. Yes, all in all, he'd done a fine job and she'd been only too pleased to grant him the extra shore leave he'd requested for himself and Lieutenant Tuvok.

Actually, Captain Janeway mused, she had only one slight regret about the whole business.

She had never figured out a way to incorporate Harry Kim's spectacular pants into the Starfleet regulation uniform.

 

THE END


End file.
